Asymmetries of vestibular dysfunction in major depression.

Depression is characterized by alterations in the circadian secretion of hormones, sleep and motor activity, all of which are regulated by suprachiasmatic nuclei (SCN). The vestibular system in the inner ear registers the amount of motor activity. To test the integrity of this motion sensitive system in depression, we studied the vestibulo-ocular reflex (VOR) in depressive patients who were not taking medication and healthy control subjects, which allowed us to investigate each ear and its corresponding nerve centers. Ocular reflex movement depends on vestibular nuclei activity, and we found that at 30 degrees C stimulation the right vestibular system in depressive patients has approximately half the activity of the left side. Significant asymmetry was not detected in control subjects. We also found a significant decrease in the slow phase (16.92+/-9.13 degrees/s) of the reflex in the depressed group as compared with the control group (43.77+/-16.04 degrees/s). The vestibular nuclei of the right and left sides are hypoactive. Specifically, the right vestibular nucleus is hypoactive in depressed people and can easily be measured using VOR. These results support the abnormal asymmetries hypothesis of depression and suggest that these asymmetries also exist at the level of the brain stem or neuronal centers that are afferents to right vestibular nuclei, like SCN or raphe nuclei.

Cortical responses of vestibular reactions measured by topographic brain mapping and vestibular evoked potentials.

With the brain electrical activity mapping, we started to create typical patterns of potentials distributions on the scalp during various neurootological experiments. We are applying this technique for spatiotemporal analysis of cerebral evoked potentials due to vestibular stimulation. We obtain the vestibular evoked potentials (VbEP) using for the stimulation, the rotatory chair. We control it, with an external computer, that by means of an interactive program builds different sort of stimuli varying each one of the stimulus components. The electrodes are distributed on the scalp in agreement with the international system 10/20. We recognize with security, 4 positive-negative waves in a period among 70 to 490 ms. We designate the waves N1, N2, P2, N3 and N4. Vestibular evoked potentials is a newly developed tool, which we also can utilize for differentiating central and peripheral vestibular diseases.

Plastic properties of the vestibulo-ocular reflex in olivo-ponto-cerebellar atrophy.

Disorders in vestibulo-ocular functions were studied in 4 patients with olivo-ponto-cerebellar atrophy (OPCA). The phenomenon of habituation, considered as a plastic property of the vestibulo-ocular reflex (VOR), was explored with a behavioural paradigm in these patients. When subjected to the habituation paradigm all patients presented a modified response opposite to that observed in normal subjects. The role played by the cerebellum in relation to VOR plasticity--well known in different experimental models--is analyzed. The hypothesis of a modification of the cerebellum's inhibitory action on vestibular nuclei neurons is put forward to explain the inversion of the VOR habituation phenomenon in these patients.