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Excitatory and Inhibitory Mechanisms Involved in the Dynamic Control of Posture During the Vestibulospinal Reflexes

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From Neuron to Action

Abstract

In decerebrate cats, the vestibulospinal (VS) reflexes elicited by slow rotation about the longitudinal axis of the animal, leading to sinusoidal stimulation of macular, utricular receptors, are characterized by contraction of limb extensors during ipsilateral (side-down) tilt of the animal and relaxation during contralateral (side-up) tilt (Schor and Miller 1981; Manzoni et al. 1983a). These postural changes were originally attributed to the activity of the three-neuronal VS reflex arc, characterized by primary vestibular afferents, second-order VS neurons originating from the lateral vestibular nucleus (LVN), which exert a direct excitatory influence on ipsilateral limb extensor motoneurons (Lund and Pompeiano 1968) and their spinal motoneurons. In fact, most of the LVN neurons (Boyle and Pompeiano 1980; Schor and Miller 1982), including those projecting to the lumbosacral segments of the spinal cord (Marchand et al. 1987), responded to the positional signal during slow rotation of the animal with a predominant response pattern characterized by an increased discharge during side-down tilt and a decreased discharge during side-up tilt (α-response). Surprisingly, in spite of the good decerebrate rigidity, the gain of the VS reflexes was very low in forelimb extensors (Manzoni et al. 1983a) and almost negligible or absent in hindlimb (Boyle and Pompeiano 1984; Manzoni et al. 1984; Pompeiano et al. 1985b). In these instances the activity of the extensor motoneurons produced by the excitatory VS volleys could, at least in part, be limited by the simultaneous discharge of Renshaw (R) cells driven by the recurrent collaterals of the corresponding motoneurons.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Dipartimento di Fisiologia e Biochimica, Università di Pisa, Via S.Zeno 31, 56100, Pisa, Italy

    O. Pompeiano

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  1. O. Pompeiano
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Neurological University Clinic Vienna, Lazarettgasse 14, 1090, Vienna, Austria

    Lüder Deecke

  2. Ca’ a la Gra’, 6646, Contra (Locarno) TI, Switzerland

    John C. Eccles

  3. Department of Neuroscience, The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, 725 North Wolfe Street, 21205, Baltimore, MD, USA

    Vernon B. Mountcastle

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© 1990 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

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Pompeiano, O. (1990). Excitatory and Inhibitory Mechanisms Involved in the Dynamic Control of Posture During the Vestibulospinal Reflexes. In: Deecke, L., Eccles, J.C., Mountcastle, V.B. (eds) From Neuron to Action. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-02601-4_13

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-02601-4_13

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-662-02603-8

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-662-02601-4

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