The monkey vertical vestibuloocular response: a frequency domain study

Abstract

We studied the vertical vestibuloocular response (VVOR) in seven cynomolgus monkeys. Eye movements were measured by the search coil method. We tested the monkeys by rotating them about their interaural axis, which was colinear with gravity. Each monkey was tested by using a standard rotational paradigm that consisted of discrete sinusoidal oscillations at three frequencies (0.01, 0.1, and 1.0 Hz) and six peak velocities (5, 10, 30, 60, 100, and 150 degrees/S). The standard rotational paradigm was applied twice for each of two conditions. The first condition (EOD) consisted of rotations with the animal's vision occluded; the second condition (EOL) consisted of rotations during which the animal was allowed to view a well-lighted room. Using various statistics, we tested the linearity of the sinusoidal slow-phase velocity component of the VVOR. The largest nonlinearity found was a skewness of approximately 14% in the waveform of f = 0.01 Hz. We did not find an amplitude asymmetry between slow-phase eye velocity upward (SPVU) and slow-phase eye velocity downward (SPVD) greater than 6% for any oscillation. Nonlinearities present in the VVOR during testing with vision occluded (EOD condition) disappeared with the addition of vision (EOL condition). Intensity function plots [peak slow-phase eye velocity vs. peak rotator (head) velocity] revealed that at f = 0.01, 0.1, and 1.0 Hz over the intensity range from +/-30 degrees/s to +/-150 degrees/s, the VVOR is highly linear. The lowest correlation coefficient associated with linear regressions of the intensity function data at each frequency was 0.99. Analyses of frequency response functions for the bandwidth f = 0.01 to 1.0 Hz, revealed the following: 1) mean amplitude ratio (AR) and phase overlap for four different stimulus intensities (30, 60, 100, and 150 degrees/s); 2) no significant differences (Mann-Whitney U test, P greater than 0.05) between any AR or phase value for mean peak SPVU and mean peak SPVD re appropriately directed head velocity; 3) no significant differences (Mann-Whitney U test, P greater than 0.05) between AR and phase values for animals tested and then retested 1 mo later with five intervening standard rotational paradigms; 4) a large effect of vision in producing a VVOR with near-unity gain and near-perfect phase compensation.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)