Eye Movement Studies with a Vestibular Prosthesis

描述(申请人提供)：该项目的目标是为前庭功能受损的人开发一种电动假体，并使用该假体以一种通过机械手段无法实现的方式来研究前庭系统。这项研究将研究豚鼠和松鼠猴子的前庭系统，方法是用调制的电脉冲刺激前庭神经，这些脉冲包含不同频率的信号，并在输入含有分量的相同频率下表征它们角前庭眼反射的敏感度和相位。 另一个要研究的课题是眼球运动对前庭神经电刺激的适应。最初的刺激预计会导致不适当的眼球运动，而不是对动物头部的运动进行补偿。当长期应用电刺激时，这些眼球运动将被记录下来，并使用频谱分析工具进行研究，以便密切监测眼球运动是否适应刺激并停止(或减少)非代偿成分。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The goals of this project are to develop an electrical prosthesis for people who have impaired vestibular function, and to use the prosthesis to investigate the vestibular system in a way that is not feasible via mechanical means. This investigation will study the vestibular system in guinea pigs and squirrel monkeys by stimulating the vestibular nerve with modulated electrical pulses that contain signals at a variety of frequencies, and characterizing the sensitivity and phase of their angular vestibuloocular reflex at the same frequencies where the input has components. Another topic to be studied is adaptation of eye movements to electrical stimulation of the vestibular nerve. Initial stimulation is expected to cause inappropriate eye movements that are not compensatory for the animal's head movements. When electrical stimulation is applied chronically, these eye movements will be recorded and studied using the tools of spectral analysis, in order to closely monitor whether the eye movements adapt to the stimulation and discontinue (or reduce) noncompensatory components.