THREE-AXIS OCULAR MOTOR CONTROL BY THE CEREBELLUM

这项职业发展计划的目标是提供眼运动神经眼科职业生涯所需的教育和研究培训，重点是小脑在眼球运动的三轴(水平、垂直和扭转)控制中的作用。该研究计划采用实验和建模相结合的方法，对人类小脑患者和非人类灵长类动物进行平行研究。其他培训部分包括统计和数据分析方面的正式指导、眼球运动系统的控制系统方法、神经建模技术方面的指导以及临床神经眼科和斜视方面的额外指导。虽然关于小脑控制水平和垂直眼球运动的研究已经很多，但关于小脑控制扭转的研究要有限得多。该方案中的实验利用三轴技术的最新进展来研究前庭小脑，特别是絮状物，对眼睛扭转的贡献。使用三轴磁搜索线圈技术，将在人类小脑患者和灵长类动物中记录手术前和手术后的绒毛病变。实验将解决视觉(追逐和视动)和前庭(低频和高频)刺激引起的眼动过程中三轴眼球速度的控制问题。还将研究静态扭转和双目对准的控制。以后的实验将集中在小脑对线性VOR的贡献以及小脑其他区域的病变对三轴眼动行为的影响。这些实验应该能更好地理解前庭小脑病变的病理生理学，以及小脑中视觉和眼动信号的三轴表示。它们也补充了最近关于扭转控制的外周机制的其他研究。最后，他们可能会更深入地了解小脑在补偿眼球运动系统其他部位的损伤方面所起的作用，例如上斜肌配对和其他导致斜视的原因。这可能会为这些疾病带来更好的治疗。

The goal of this career development proposal is to provide the educational and research training necessary for a career in ocular motor neuro-ophthalmology, with an emphasis on the role of the cerebellum in the three-axis (horizontal, vertical, and torsional) control of eye movements. The research plan involves a combination of experimental and modeling approaches with parallel studies in human cerebellar patients and non-human primates. Additional training components include formal instruction in statistics and data analysis, control system approaches to the ocular motor system, mentoring in neural modeling techniques, and additional instruction in clinical neuro-ophthalmology and strabismus. Although much has been learned about the cerebellar control of horizontal and vertical eye movements, studies of the cerebellar control of torsion are much more limited. The experiments in this proposal take advantage of recent advances in three-axis techniques to investigate the vestibulocerebellar, and particularly the floccular, contribution to eye torsion. Using a three-axis magnetic search coil technique, recordings will be made in human cerebellar patients and in primates before and after surgical floccular lesions. Experiments will address the control of three-axis eye velocity during eye movements evoked by visual (pursuit and optokinetic) and vestibular (low- and high-frequency) stimulation. The control of static torsion and binocular alignment will also be investigated. Later experiments will focus on the cerebellar contribution to the linear VOR and on the effects of lesions in other cerebellar regions on three-axis eye movement behavior. These experiments should provide a greater understanding of the pathophysiology of vestibulocerebellar lesions, as well the three-axis representation of visual and eye movement signals in the cerebellum. They also complement other recent studies dealing with peripheral mechanisms of torsion control. Finally, they may lead to a greater insight into the role of the cerebellum in compensating for lesions elsewhere in the ocular motor system, such as superior oblique pareses and other causes of strabismus. This might lead to better treatment for these disorders.