Impulsive head rotation resets oculopalatal tremor: examination of a model.

Progress in Brain Research
Ke LiaoR John Leigh

Abstract

We have described a neuromimetic model of the interaction between the inferior olive (IO) and the cerebellum that accounts for symptomatic oculopalatal tremor (OPT), a disorder characterized by oscillations of the eyes (nystagmus), palate and other branchial muscles. OPT develops months after some brainstem strokes, in association with hypertrophic degeneration of the inferior olivary nucleus (IO). We hypothesized that OPT requires both (1) a pulsatile oscillator created by tighter electrotonic coupling between cells in the IO, and (2) a learned response from the cerebellar cortex that combines with the IO pulses to generate the quasi-pendular oscillations. Since the vestibular nuclei project to both IO and vestibulocerebellum, one prediction of the model is that rapid head rotations could interrupt the oscillator, effectively resetting the timing of the ocular nystagmus. The ocular oscillations in OPT vary in amplitude and phase, making it difficult to determine by Fourier analysis whether head perturbations phase-shift the nystagmus. We applied complex wavelet analysis to data from four patients with OPT and checked whether vestibular stimuli induced a change in phase of the nystagmus. First we calculated a threshold for the ...Continue Reading

Citations

Jan 19, 2010·Brain : a Journal of Neurology·Aasef G ShaikhLance M Optican
Nov 26, 2010·Journal of Neuro-ophthalmology : the Official Journal of the North American Neuro-Ophthalmology Society·Matthew J Thurtell, R John Leigh

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