VESTIBULAR-NYSTAGMUS AS A RESULT OF INTERACTION OF SEMICIRCULAR CANALS AND OTOLITHS OF THE VESTIBULAR SYSTEM

Untreated and treated (unilateral section of utricular and saccular branches of the vestibular nerve) pigeons Columba livia were rotated in the dark in the horizontal plane, the head being in a different position relative to the axis of rotation. The range of angular acceleration was 7-19 deg/c2 and the peak value of centrifugal acceleration was 0.5 g. The neck and eye nystagmus was recorded. It was found that: 1) the result of canal-otolith interaction was not directly related to the pattern of changes of otolith afferentation but was determined by the ratio of otolith afferent signals in the right and left labyrinths and, consequently, by the ratio of patterns of activities in the CNS paired structures that receive otolith afferentation; 2) the same result of interaction (enhancement or attenuation of vestibular responses) can be achieved through both increase or decrease of otolith afferentation; 3) if joint stimulation of semicircular canals and otolith organs induces asymmetry of neuronal activities of paired brain structures that perceive otolith afferentation, then, irrespective of the mechanism of origin of this asymmetry, it is followed by changes of oppositely directed nystagmus of different sign (increase for one nystagmus and decrease for the other). It is concluded that the symmetry of reactions recorded in response to isolated stimulation of semicircular canals (otolith organs) cannot be considered as a reliable criterion of functional symmetry of semicircular canals (otolith organs).