A cross-sectional, prospective ocular motor study in 72 patients with Niemann-Pick disease type C.

OBJECTIVE: To characterize ocular motor function in patients with Niemann-Pick disease type C (NPC). METHODS: In a multicontinental, cross-sectional study we characterized ocular-motor function in 72 patients from 12 countries by video-oculography. Interlinking with disease severity, we also searched for ocular motor biomarkers. Our study protocol comprised reflexive and self-paced saccades, smooth pursuit, and gaze-holding in horizontal and vertical planes. Data were compared with those of 158 healthy controls (HC). RESULTS: Some 98.2% of patients generated vertical saccades below the 95% CI of the controls' peak velocity. Only 46.9% of patients had smooth pursuit gain lower than that of 95% CI of HC. The involvement in both downward and upward directions was similar (51°/s (68.9, [32.7-69.3]) downward versus 78.8°/s (65.9, [60.8-96.8]) upward). Horizontal saccadic peak velocity and latency, vertical saccadic duration and amplitude, and horizontal position smooth pursuit correlated best to disease severity. Compensating strategies such as blinks to elicit saccades, and head and upper body movements to overcome the gaze palsy, were observed. Vertical reflexive saccades were more impaired and slower than self-paced ones. Gaze-holding was normal. Ocular-motor performance depended on the age of onset and disease duration. CONCLUSIONS: This is the largest cohort of NPC patients investigated for ocular-motor function. Vertical supranuclear saccade palsy is the hallmark of NPC. Vertical upward and downward saccades are equally impaired. Horizontal saccadic peak velocity and latency, vertical saccadic duration and amplitude, and horizontal position smooth pursuit can be used as surrogate parameters for clinical trials. Compensating strategies can contribute to establishing a diagnosis.

Prolonged allocentric navigation deficits indicate hippocampal damage in TGA.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate long-term recovery of allocentric and egocentric spatial orientation as a sensitive marker for hippocampal and extrahippocampal network function in transient global amnesia (TGA). METHODS: A group of 18 patients with TGA performed an established real-space navigation paradigm, requiring allo- and egocentric spatial orientation abilities, 3 days (postacute stage) and 3 months (follow-up) after symptom onset. Visual exploration behavior and navigation strategy were documented by a gaze-controlled, head-fixed camera. Allo- and egocentric spatial orientation performance was compared to that of 12 age-matched healthy controls. Navigation-induced brain activations were measured using [18F]-fluorodeoxyglucose-PET in a subgroup of 8 patients in the postacute stage and compared to those of the controls. RESULTS: In the postacute stage, the patients navigated worse and had higher error rates than controls in allocentric (p = 0.002), but not in egocentric, route planning (p = 0.30), despite complete recovery of verbal (p = 0.58) and figural memory (p = 0.11). Until follow-up, allocentric navigation deficits improved, but higher error rates and reduced use of shortcuts persisted (p < 0.0001). Patients still exhibited relatively more fixations of unique landmarks during follow-up (p = 0.05). PET measurements during the postacute stage showed increased navigation-induced brain activations in the right hippocampus, bilateral retrosplenial, parietal, and mesiofrontal cortices, and cerebellar dentate nucleus in patients compared to controls (p < 0.005). CONCLUSIONS: Patients with TGA show selective and prolonged deficits of allocentric spatial orientation. Activations in right hippocampal and extrahippocampal hubs of the cerebral navigation network functionally substitute for the deficit in creating and updating the internal cognitive map in TGA.

Protocol for a prospective interventional trial to develop a diagnostic index test for stroke as a cause of vertigo, dizziness and imbalance in the emergency room (EMVERT study).

INTRODUCTION: Identifying stroke as a cause of acute vertigo, dizziness and imbalance in the emergency room is still a clinical challenge. Many patients are admitted to stroke units, but only a minority will have strokes. This imposes a heavy financial burden on the healthcare system. The aim of this study is to develop a diagnostic index test to identify patients with a high risk of having a stroke as the cause of acute vertigo and imbalance. METHODS AND ANALYSIS: Patients with acute onset of vertigo, dizziness, postural imbalance or double vision within the last 24 hours lasting for at least 10 min are eligible to be included in the study. Patients with clinically proven peripheral or central aetiology will be excluded. In the emergency room, all enrolled patients will undergo standardised neuro-ophthalmological/physiological testing (including video-oculography, mobile posturography, measurement of subjective visual vertical) (EMVERT block 1). Within 10 days, standardised MRI will be performed as a reference test to identify stroke (EMVERT block 2). Data from EMVERT block 2 will be compared with results from block 1 in order to devise a diagnostic index test with a high specificity and sensitivity to predict the risk of stroke in the emergency room. ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION: The study was approved by the ethics committee of the University of Munich and will be conducted according to the Guideline for Good Clinical Practice, the Federal Data Protecting Act and the Helsinki Declaration of the World Medical Association in its recent version. Study results are expected to be published in international peer-reviewed journals and will be presented at international conferences. TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER: German Clinical Trial Register: DRKS00008992; Universal trial number: U1111-1172-8719); pre-results.

Oculomotor and Vestibular Findings in Gaucher Disease Type 3 and Their Correlation with Neurological Findings.

OBJECTIVES: To evaluate the function of the oculomotor and vestibular systems and to correlate these findings with the clinical status of patients with Gaucher disease type 3 (GD3). The goal of this cross-sectional and longitudinal study was to find oculomotor biomarkers for future clinical trials. METHODS: Twenty-six patients with GD3 were assessed for eligibility and 21 were able to perform at least one task. Horizontal and vertical reflexive saccades, smooth pursuit, gaze-holding, optokinetic nystagmus, and horizontal vestibulo-ocular reflex (VOR) were examined by video-oculography/video-head impulse test and compared concurrently with 33 healthy controls. The Scale for the Assessment and Rating of Ataxia (SARA), the modified Severity Scoring Tool (mSST), and Grooved Pegboard Test (GPT) were administered to assess overall neurological function. Eleven patients were also re-assessed after 1 year. RESULTS: Nine out of 17 patients exhibited gaze-holding deficits. One patient had upbeat nystagmus. Three patients presented with bilateral abducens palsy in combination with central oculomotor disorders, suggesting a bilateral involvement of the abducens nucleus. Horizontal angular VOR gain was reduced in all patients (0.66 ± 0.37) compared with controls (1.1 ± 0.11, p < 0.001). Most strongly correlated with clinical rating scales were peak velocity of downward saccades (SARA: ρ = -0.752, p < 0.0005; mSST: ρ = -0.611, p = 0.003; GPT: ρ = -0.649, p = 0.005) and duration of vertical saccades (SARA: ρ = 0.806, p < 0.001; mSST: ρ = 0.700, p < 0.0005; GPT: ρ = 0.558, p = 0.02) together with the VOR gain (SARA: ρ = -0.63, p = 0.016; mSST: ρ = -0.725, p = 0.003; GPT: ρ = -0.666, p = 0.004). Vertical smooth pursuit gain decreased significantly at follow-up. INTERPRETATION: This study shows neuronal degeneration of the brainstem and cerebellum with combined involvement of both supranuclear and nuclear oculomotor structures and the vestibular system in GD3. We also identified oculomotor parameters that correlate with the neurological status and can be used as biomarkers in future clinical trials.

Vestibular function in patients with Niemann-Pick type C disease.

We investigated whether vestibular dysfunction may cause or contribute to postural imbalance and falls in patients with Niemann-Pick type C disease (NP-C). Eight patients with NP-C disease and 20 healthy controls were examined using the video-based head impulse test (vHIT) and caloric irrigation to investigate horizontal canal function as well as ocular- and cervical vestibular evoked myogenic potentials (o- and cVEMP), and binocular subjective visual vertical estimation (SVV) for otolith function, and static posturography. There were no significant differences in vestibulo-ocular gain, caloric excitability, o-/cVEMP measures or SVV between the two groups. Posturographic total sway path (tSP) and root mean square (RMS) were significantly higher in NP-C than in controls in 3 out of 4 conditions. The Romberg quotient (RQ) to assess the amount of visual stabilization was significantly lower in the NP-C than in the HC group. In contrast to other inherited metabolic disorders, such as Morbus Gaucher type 3, we did not find any evidence for an impairment of canal or otolith function in patients with NP-C as their cause of postural imbalance. Since RQ was low in NP-C patients, indicating proper sensory input, the observed increased postural sway is most likely due to a cerebellar dysfunction in NP-C, which may therefore, explain postural imbalance.

Gravity matters: Motion perceptions modified by direction and body position.

Motion coherence thresholds are consistently higher at lower velocities. In this study we analysed the influence of the position and direction of moving objects on their perception and thereby the influence of gravity. This paradigm allows a differentiation to be made between coherent and randomly moving objects in an upright and a reclining position with a horizontal or vertical axis of motion. 18 young healthy participants were examined in this coherent threshold paradigm. Motion coherence thresholds were significantly lower when position and motion were congruent with gravity independent of motion velocity (p=0.024). In the other conditions higher motion coherence thresholds (MCT) were found at lower velocities and vice versa (p<0.001). This result confirms previous studies with higher MCT at lower velocity but is in contrast to studies concerning perception of virtual turns and optokinetic nystagmus, in which differences of perception were due to different directions irrespective of body position, i.e. perception took place in an egocentric reference frame. Since the observed differences occurred in an upright position only, perception of coherent motion in this study is defined by an earth-centered reference frame rather than by an ego-centric frame.

Esophoria or esotropia in adulthood: a sign of cerebellar dysfunction?

Convergent strabismus is a common diagnosis in early childhood, when it is mostly considered benign. If it develops later in life, strabismus can, however, be a sign of neurological disease. In these cases the underlying pathophysiological mechanisms are largely unknown. In this retrospective case-control study we analyzed the neuro-ophthalmological examination reports of 400 adult patients who presented at the German Center for Vertigo and Balance Disorders to determine an association between ocular misalignment and cerebellar dysfunction. Patients with cerebellar signs (i.e., cerebellar ataxia and/or cerebellar ocular motor signs) had a 4.49 (95 % CI [1.60; 13.78]) times higher frequency of ocular misalignment and specifically a 13.3 (95 % CI [3.80; 55.73]) times increased frequency of esophoria/esotropia (ESO) during distant gaze than patients without cerebellar dysfunction. ESO when looking into the distance was associated with saccadic smooth pursuit, dysmetria of saccades, and downbeat nystagmus (DBN) (χ (2) test, p < 0.0001 for all associations). Patients with cerebellar dysfunction also showed mildly impaired eye abduction (χ (2) test, left eye and right eye: p < 0.0001), associated with horizontal gaze-evoked nystagmus (χ (2) test, p < 0.0001). The association of ESO and DBN implicates a pathophysiological involvement of the cerebellar flocculus, while the association with dysmetric saccades suggests involvement of the oculomotor vermis. This is compatible with animal studies showing that the pathways of the flocculus/posterior interposed nucleus and vermis/nucleus fastigii are both involved in vergence movements and static binocular alignment. From a clinical point of view, a newly diagnosed esophoria/esotropia only during distant gaze may be a sign of a cerebellar disease.

4-aminopyridine improves lower urinary tract symptoms in a patient with benign prostatic hyperplasia and downbeat nystagmus syndrome.

Aminopyridines are potassium channel blockers that increase the excitability of nerve cells and axons; therefore, they are widely used to treat different neurological disorders. Here we present a patient with idiopathic downbeat nystagmus and lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS) due to benign prostatic hyperplasia who was treated with the sustained-release form of 4-aminopyridine (4-AP). During treatment with 4-AP, the LUTS improved. This improvement was monitored by using uroflowmetry and the International Prostate Symptom Score. A significant improvement of symptoms was observed in relation to the voided volume. This included an improved emptying of the bladder without an increase in residual urine. In animal studies, both nonselective K(+) channel blockade and selective voltage-sensitive potassium blockade by 4-AP resulted in increased contraction on rat detrusor strips. To our knowledge, this is the first clinical observation of the mode of action of 4-AP in urological symptoms in humans.

Effect of chlorzoxazone in patients with downbeat nystagmus: a pilot trial.

OBJECTIVE: Downbeat nystagmus (DBN) is the most frequent form of acquired persisting fixation nystagmus with different symptoms such as unsteadiness of gait, postural instability, and blurred vision with reduced visual acuity (VA) and oscillopsia. However, different symptomatic therapeutic principles are required, such as 3,4-diaminopyridine and 4-aminopyridine, that effectively suppress DBN. Chlorzoxazone (CHZ) is a nonselective activator of small conductance calcium-activated potassium (SK) channels that modifies the activity of cerebellar Purkinje cells. We evaluated the effects of this agent on DBN in an observational proof-of-concept pilot study. METHODS: Ten patients received CHZ 500 mg 3 times a day for 1 or 2 weeks. Slow-phase velocity of DBN, VA, postural sway, and the drug's side effects were evaluated. Recordings were conducted at baseline, 90 minutes after first administration, and after 1 or 2 weeks. RESULTS: Mean slow-phase velocity significantly decreased from a baseline of 2.74°/s ± 2.00 to 2.29°/s ± 2.12 (mean ± SD) 90 minutes after first administration and to 2.04°/s ± 2.24 (p < 0.001; post hoc both p = 0.024) after long-term treatment. VA significantly increased and postural sway in posturography showed a tendency to decrease on medication. Fifty percent of patients did not report any side effects. The most common reported side effect was abdominal discomfort and dizziness. CONCLUSIONS: The treatment with the SK-channel activator CHZ is a potentially new therapeutic agent for the symptomatic treatment of DBN. CLASSIFICATION OF EVIDENCE: This study provides Class IV evidence that CHZ 500 mg 3 times a day may improve eye movements and visual fixation in patients with DBN.

Comparison of 10-mg doses of 4-aminopyridine and 3,4-diaminopyridine for the treatment of downbeat nystagmus.

OBJECTIVE: Animal experiments have demonstrated that aminopyridines increase Purkinje cell excitability, and in clinical studies, 4-aminopyridine (4-AP) and 3,4-diaminopyridine (3,4-DAP) improved downbeat nystagmus. In this double-blind, prospective, crossover study, the effects of equivalent doses of 4-AP and 3,4-DAP on the slow-phase velocity (SPV) of downbeat nystagmus were compared. METHODS: Eight patients with downbeat nystagmus due to different etiologies (cerebellar degeneration [n = 1], bilateral vestibulopathy [n = 1], bilateral vestibulopathy and cerebellar degeneration [n = 1], Arnold-Chiari I malformation and cerebellar ataxia [n = 1], cryptogenic cerebellar ataxia [n = 4]) were included. They were randomly assigned to receiving a single capsule of 10 mg of 3,4-DAP or 4-AP followed by 6 days with no medication. One week later, the treatment was switched, that is, 1 single capsule (10 mg) of the other agent. Recordings with 3-dimensional video-oculography were performed before and 45 and 90 minutes after drug administration. RESULTS: Both medications had a significant effect throughout time (pre vs post 45 vs post 90) (F() = 8.876; P < 0.01). Following the administration of 3,4-DAP, mean slow velocity decreased from -5.68°/s (pre) to -3.29°/s (post 45) to -2.96°/s (post 90) (pre vs post 45/post 90 P < 0.01). In 4-AP, the mean SPV decreased from -6.04°/s (pre) to -1.58°/s (post 45) to -1.21°/s (post 90) (pre vs post 45/post 90 P < 0.00001). Both after 45 and after 90, the mean SPVs were significantly lower for 4-AP than for 3,4-DAP (P < 0.05). None of the patients reported serious side effects. CONCLUSION: Based on these results, 10-mg doses of 4-AP lead to a more pronounced decrease of the SPV of downbeat nystagmus than do equivalent doses of 3,4-DAP.

Gait deviations induced by visual motion stimulation in roll depend on head orientation.

Locomotion control uses proprioceptive, visual, and vestibular signals. Previously, we analyzed the visual contribution with visual motion stimulation in roll while participants kept their heads in a normal upright orientation. In this study we applied the same visual disturbance in a head-upright and a nose-down condition. Random dot patterns were constantly rotated in roll at +/-15 degrees/sec on a computer-driven binocular head-mounted display, while the participants walked a distance of 6 m. The stimulation effect was more pronounced in the nose-down condition. These results are similar to the results of previous galvanic vestibular stimulation (GVS) studies, suggesting that in terms of the direction of action visual motion stimulation in the roll plane is similar to GVS.

EyeSeeCam: an eye movement-driven head camera for the examination of natural visual exploration.

The prototype of a gaze-controlled, head-mounted camera (EyeSeeCam) was developed that provides the functionality for fundamental studies on human gaze behavior even under dynamic conditions like locomotion. EyeSeeCam incorporates active visual exploration by saccades with image stabilization during head, object, and surround motion just as occurs in human ocular motor control. This prototype is a first attempt to combine free user mobility with image stabilization and unrestricted exploration of the visual surround in a man-made technical vision system. The gaze-driven camera is supplemented by an additional wide-angle, head-fixed scene camera. In this scene view, the focused gaze view is embedded with picture-in-picture functionality, which provides an approximation of the foveated retinal content. Such a combined video clip can be viewed more comfortably than the saccade-pervaded image of the gaze camera alone. EyeSeeCam consists of a video-oculography (VOG) device and a camera motion device. The benchmark for the evaluation of such a device is the vestibulo-ocular reflex (VOR), which requires a latency on the order of 10 msec between head and eye (camera) movements for proper image stabilization. A new lightweight VOG was developed that is able to synchronously measure binocular eye positions at up to 600 Hz. The camera motion device consists of a parallel kinematics setup with a backlash-free gimbal joint that is driven by piezo actuators with no reduction gears. As a result, the latency between the rotations of an artificial eye and the camera was 10 msec, which is VOR-like.

Human eye-head co-ordination in natural exploration.

During natural behavior humans continuously adjust their gaze by moving head and eyes, yielding rich dynamics of the retinal input. Sensory coding models, however, typically assume visual input as smooth or a sequence of static images interleaved by volitional gaze shifts. Are these assumptions valid during free exploration behavior in natural environments? We used an innovative technique to simultaneously record gaze and head movements in humans, who freely explored various environments (forest, train station, apartment). Most movements occur along the cardinal axes, and the predominance of vertical or horizontal movements depends on the environment. Eye and head movements co-occur more frequently than their individual statistics predicts under an independence assumption. The majority of co-occurring movements point in opposite directions, consistent with a gaze-stabilizing role of eye movements. Nevertheless, a substantial fraction of eye movements point in the same direction as co-occurring head movements. Even under the very most conservative assumptions, saccadic eye movements alone cannot account for these synergistic movements. Hence nonsaccadic eye movements that interact synergistically with head movements to adjust gaze cannot be neglected in natural visual input. Natural retinal input is continuously dynamic, and cannot be faithfully modeled as a mere sequence of static frames with interleaved large saccades.