Initial, rapid phase of recovery from unilateral vestibular lesion in rat not dependent on survival of central portion of vestibular nerve

The behavioral effects of vestibular endorgan lesions were compared with those of vestibular ganglion lesions in the albino rat. No differences in head tilt angle or spontaneous eye nystagmus beat frequency were noted between the two groups during the first 36 h after the lesion was made. Of rats studied beyond 36 h, 2/7 with lesions restricted to the endorgans and 2/3 with ganglion lesions showed pronounced secondary increases in head tilt and tonic eye deviation, but not eye nystagmus. Single units were recorded in the ganglion acutely, as well as 1,2, and 14 days after an endorgan lesion was made. Practically no resting activity could be recorded in the ganglion acutely (2-7 h) after endorgan damage, and the resting activity at subsequent times was slight. It is concluded that an intact vestibular ganglion isolated from the sensory periphery is of no functional significance during the first 36 h, when the largest decreases in magnitude of the behavioral signs of unilateral labyrinthectomy occur in the rat. A slight significance at later times is not ruled out.

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