NEURAL CONTROL OF VISUAL VESTIBULAR BEHAVIOR

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This subproject is one of many research subprojects utilizing the resources provided by a Center grant funded by NIH/NCRR. The subproject and investigator (PI) may have received primary funding from another NIH source, and thus could be represented in other CRISP entries. The institution listed is for the Center, which is not necessarily the institution for the investigator. Normal posture, balance and stable vision are dependent on interactions between the visual and vestibular systems. Our studies are directed at defining the neural substrate for normal visual-vestibular-oculomotor behavior. There is a continuous need to calibrate the motor output of the vestibular ocular reflex due to normal development or injury to the vestibular system. Without this calibration, difficulties in maintaining balance and clear vision during locomotion would occur. In addition to long-term calibration, vision is supported by moment-by-moment or dynamic visual-vestibular interactions. We have made substantial progress in defining the relative roles of the DLPN and NRTP in control of gaze. We have found that there are different signals carried in NRTP and DLPN related to eye, head and visual motion that could support gaze behavior. We are now attempting to determine the source of those signals by conducting antidromic activation studies between pontine nuclei, frontal eye fields and MST areas.