The Electrically Evoked Vestibulo-Ocular Reflex: I. Normal Subjects

Abstract

Recent animal studies indicate that electric currents applied through perilymphatic-space electrodes stimulate vestibular primary afferent neurons directly. These findings suggest that electrical stimulation may provide a testing method by which the vestibular nerve and central pathways could be evaluated separately from the vestibular end-organ. The goal of this study was to obtain normative data on human beings for an electrically evoked vestibulo-ocular reflex (EVOR). Sinusoidal electrical stimuli (0.0125 to 0.8 Hz, 4 mA peak intensity) were applied along the interaural axis through mastoid electrodes in 10 subjects. Horizontal eye movements were recorded by an infrared limbus-tracking device. The subjects also underwent rotational stimulation at the same frequencies so that their horizontal vestibulo-ocular reflex (VOR) could be evaluated. Nystagmus was observed in the EVOR at lower stimulus frequencies, whereas purely sinusoidal eye deviations occurred at higher frequencies. The phase of the EVOR slow-component eye velocity consistently lagged the stimulus. This contrasts with the phase measurements of the VOR in the same subjects, which exhibited a lead relative to head velocity. These findings suggest that currents applied to human beings may activate vestibular primary afferents independent of peripheral receptor mechanisms and thereby provide a “site-of-lesion” testing method by which the vestibular nerve and central pathways can be evaluated separately from the vestibular end-organ.