Latencies obtained of the somatosensory evoked potentials of the median and tibial nerve in rhesus monkey undergoing intrauterine laminectomy to simulate myelomeningocele.

BACKGROUND: Somatosensory evoked potentials (SSEP) have been described as excellent indicators of the degree of medullar injury in degenerative and metabolic diseases of the central nervous system (CNS). The prevalence of neural tube defects (NTD) is 6 cases/10,000 live newborns worldwide. It is thought that genetic as well as environmental factors contribute to the etiology of NTD. The objective of this study was to analyze and compare the latencies obtained by means of SSEP in a clinically healthy monkey vs. rhesus monkeys with intrauterine surgery in order to simulate surgically the neural tube defect (myelomengocele) by performing an intrauterine laminectomy and in which later the defect was corrected. METHODS: This study was performed using three non-human primates of the Macaca mulatta species. There were practice intrauterine surgeries in two monkeys to simulate the neurological defect produced by myelomeningocele, using the third monkey as control. For statistical methodology four monkeys were used. They were born by natural birth without any surgical manipulation. With the cesarean-obtained products, stimulation was performed of the tibial and median nerve. RESULTS: We observed that the hind limbs were the most affected, in particular, the left afferent of the monkey. The spinal cord was exposed to amniotic fluid, and there were no significant differences in the forelimbs. CONCLUSIONS: The use of SSEP provides valuable information regarding preservation of sensorial functions in a variety of experimental neurological abnormalities.

Visuomotor functions and intelligence subsequent to strabismus treatment. Second phase.

BACKGROUND: Strabismus has been related to different alterations of brain functions and learning in children. Early treatment for visuomotor functions may improve the executive areas of intelligence. We undertook this study to demonstrate changes of visuomotor function and intelligence in children after strabismus treatment. METHODS: This is a prospective study of patients with strabismus, before and after treatment. We applied the Human Figure Test, Visuomotor Bender Test, and Intelligence Test. RESULTS: We included nine children with an average age of 8.7 years (± 2.4 years). Stereopsis result was 724 arc sec. Visual acuity was 0.16 logMAR ± 0.15. Verbal intelligence was 91.1 ± 11, executive intelligence (EI) was 86.7 ± 8, and global intelligence (GI) was 91 ± 10. Correlation coefficient of EI was significantly related to stereopsis (-0.2), visual acuity (-0.1) and Bender (-0.1). GI results were higher than statistical prognosis (88.16 for x = 90). CONCLUSIONS: We demonstrated improvement in binocularity and psychoadaptive areas related to EI after strabismus and amblyopia treatment.