scholarly journals Biomechanical Analysis of Angular Motion in Association with Bilateral Semicircular Canal Function

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shuang Shen ◽  
Fei Zhao ◽  
Zhaoyue Chen ◽  
Qingyin Zheng ◽  
Shen Yu ◽  
...  

AbstractThe aim of this study was to develop a finite element (FE) model of bilateral human semicircular canals (SCCs) in order to simulate and analyze the complex fluid-structural interaction between the endolymph and cupulae by calculating the degree of cupular expansion and the cupular deflection. The results showed that cupular deflection responses were consistent with Ewald’s II law, whereas each pair of bilateral cupulae simultaneously expanded or compressed to the same degree. In addition, both the degree of cupular expansion and cupular deflection can be expressed as the solution of forced oscillation during head sinusoidal rotation, and the amplitude of cupular expansion was approximately two times greater than that of cupular deflection. Regarding the amplitude-frequency and phase-frequency characteristics, the amplitude ratios among the horizontal semicircular canal (HC) cupular expansion, the anterior semicircular canal (AC) cupular expansion, and the posterior semicircular canal (PC) cupular expansion was constant at 1:0.82:1.62, and the phase differences among them were constant at 0 or 180 degrees at the frequencies of 0.5 to 6 Hz. However, both the amplitude ratio and the phase differencies of the cupular deflection incresed nonlinearly with the increase of frequency and tended to be constant at the frequency band between 2 and 6 Hz. The results indicate that the responses of cupular expansion might only be related to the mass and rigidity of three cupulae and the endolymph, but the responses of cupular deflection are related to the mass, rigidity, or damping of them, and these physical properties would be affected by vestibular dysfunction. Therefore, both the degree of cupular expansion and cupular deflection should be considered important mechanical variables for induced neural signals. Such a numerical model can be further built to provide a useful theoretical approach for exploring the biomechanical nature underlying vestibular dysfunction.Statement of significanceBy taking the advantage of the torsional pendulum model and the FE model, a healthy human vestibular SCCs was developed to investigate the angular motion in association with SCC function. As a result, the responses of cupular expansion and deflection during head horizontal sinusoidal rotation were analyzed for the first time, showing quantitative correlation to the eye movement due to the vestibular ocular reflex (VOR) pathway. These responses play important roles in the cupular mechano-electrical transduction process. The significant outcome derived from this study provides a useful theoretical approach for further exploring the biomechanical nature underlying vestibular dysfunction.

2020 ◽  
Vol 5 (4) ◽  
pp. 917-939
Author(s):  
Richard A. Clendaniel

Purpose The purposes of this article are (a) to describe the different test procedures for benign paroxysmal positional vertigo (BPPV) and (b) to provide guidance for the treatment of the various forms of BPPV and to discuss the efficacy of the different interventions. Conclusions While BPPV primarily occurs in the posterior semicircular canal, it is also seen in the anterior and horizontal semicircular canals. There are distinctive patterns of nystagmus that help identify the affected semicircular canal and to differentiate between cupulolithiasis and canalithiasis forms of BPPV. There is reasonable evidence to support the different treatments for both posterior and horizontal semicircular canal BPPV. Anterior semicircular canal BPPV is rare, and as a consequence, there is little evidence to support the various treatment techniques. Finally, while BPPV is generally easy to identify, there are central causes of positional nystagmus with and without vertigo, which can complicate the diagnosis of BPPV. The signs and symptoms of BPPV are contrasted with those of the central causes of positional nystagmus.


Author(s):  
Shuang Shen ◽  
Fei Zhao ◽  
Zhaoyue Chen ◽  
Shen Yu ◽  
Tongtao Cao ◽  
...  

1989 ◽  
Vol 62 (5) ◽  
pp. 1090-1101 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. D. Dickman ◽  
M. J. Correia

1. The horizontal semicircular canals of anesthetized (barbiturate/ketamine) pigeons were stimulated by rotational and by mechanical stimulation. 2. The mechanical stimulation consisted of making a small (less than 1 mm) fistula in the lateral part of the bony horizontal semicircular canal and, after inserting a probe coupled to a piezoelectric micropusher through the fistula, providing controlled indentation of the exposed membranous horizontal semicircular duct. 3. Extracellular action potentials from single horizontal semicircular canal primary afferent (HCA) fibers were recorded during sinusoidal rotational and during step, ramp, and sinusoidal mechanical stimulation. 4. The mean spontaneous discharge rate of 160 horizontal canal afferents was 86 +/- 4 (SE) spikes/s. This rate was not significantly different from that reported previously for pigeon HCA fibers recorded with the horizontal canal intact (i.e., no fistula introduced). 5. Sinusoidal mechanical indentation of the horizontal semicircular duct produced clearly entrained action potentials on 36 HCA fibers for a range of peak displacements from +/- 0.5 to +/- 30 microns. Action potentials were never modulated on afferents (n greater than 100) identified as innervating the anterior and posterior semicircular canals or the otolith organs during mechanical stimulation of the horizontal semicircular canal, even for displacements as large as 30 microns. 6. Intensity functions relating peak firing frequency (spikes per second) and peak probe displacement (micrometers) for 1.0-Hz sinusoidal mechanical stimulation were linear over the range 1.0-5.0 microns. The most sensitive units (6/36, 17%) showed response saturation as the stimulus magnitude was extended to 7 microns and beyond. 7. In 15 of 36 units, both mechanical and rotational sinusoidal stimulation (1.0 Hz) were applied to the same unit. The duct indentation magnitudes were 1.0, 2.5, 5.0, and 7.0 microns and the rotational velocities were 5, 10, and 20 deg/s. The constant of proportionality found to equate the peak response produced by rotational to that elicited by mechanical stimulation was 7.0 deg.sec-1/1.0 microns. 8. Bode plots and best-fit transfer functions of the frequency response (0.05-10.0 Hz) of 14 HCAs exposed to both mechanical and rotational stimulation were nearly identical. 9. Parameters for best-fit transfer functions, responses to step, and trapezoidal duct displacements were in excellent agreement with previous rotational studies carried out using the pigeon. 10. Although the mechanisms by which focal identation of the horizontal membranous duct produce responses have not yet been determined, primary afferent responses using this method of stimulation are directly comparable with rotatory stimulation.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)


1998 ◽  
Vol 107 (5) ◽  
pp. 411-415 ◽  
Author(s):  
Muneyuki Ito ◽  
Akiko Seto-Ohshima

In mammals, the osseous semicircular canals of the vestibular labyrinths are usually embedded in the pyramis of the temporal bone. Thus, the osseous semicircular canals are a cavity system that can only be visualized by injection molding. Exceptionally, the walls of the osseous semicircular canals of the Mongolian gerbil are not embedded, but exposed in the hollow space in the temporal bone. Under urethane anesthesia, a window was made in the periotic capsule of the gerbil to reach this hollow space (semicircular canal triangle), and a pair of wire electrodes were inserted through an opening made in the horizontal semicircular canal toward the utricular nerve endings. Repetitive electric stimuli at 80 Hz were applied, and the direction of eye movements was noted. Subsequently, the stimulation frequency was reduced to 0.3 Hz, and evoked potentials were recorded from the neocortex. Positive surface potentials and negative deep potentials were recorded in the somatosensory area and, more specifically, in the vibrissa “barrel field,” as judged by later histochemical staining of the cortical specimens. This unique anatomic feature of the gerbil labyrinth offers an opportunity whereby the vestibular organ can be reached without any heavy surgical insult, and the presence of fine-grain vibrissa barrels in this species (seven rows instead of five rows in most rodents) will help elucidate functional interactions between vestibular and somatosensory sensations.


1965 ◽  
Vol 208 (6) ◽  
pp. 1065-1070 ◽  
Author(s):  
K. E. Money ◽  
W. H. Johnson ◽  
B. M. A. Corlett

Following unilateral labyrinthectomy or inactivation of one horizontal semicircular canal in cats, a horizontal positional nystagmus was observed when the cat, after ingesting alcohol, was held with the head up or with the head down. This nystagmus was toward the operated ear in the head-up position and away from the operated ear in the head-down position. It disappeared following inactivation of the horizontal canal of the other ear. In cats with both horizontal canals discretely inactivated, there was no horizontal alcohol nystagmus in any position, but the vertical and rotary components of positional alcohol nystagmus were still present. It was concluded that positional alcohol nystagmus is initiated by the action of gravity on receptors of the semicircular canals. No conclusion could be drawn concerning the site or mechanism of the action of alcohol.


1937 ◽  
Vol 14 (4) ◽  
pp. 473-482
Author(s):  
OTTO LÖWENSTEIN

1. An operative technique is described, which makes possible the elimination of a single horizontal semicircular canal in the pike (Esox lucius). 2. Such an operation, carried out unilaterally, leads to a lasting tonic asymmetry of the eye muscle apparatus. Hence a tonic function of the horizontal semicircular canals must be assumed.


1992 ◽  
Vol 73 (2) ◽  
pp. S112-S120 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. J. Correia ◽  
A. A. Perachio ◽  
J. D. Dickman ◽  
I. B. Kozlovskaya ◽  
M. G. Sirota ◽  
...  

Extracellular responses from single horizontal semicircular canal afferents in two rhesus monkeys were studied after recovery from a 14-day biosatellite (COSMOS 2044) orbital spaceflight. On the 1st postflight day, the mean gain for 9 different horizontal canal afferents, tested using one or several different passive yaw rotation waveforms, was nearly twice that for 20 horizontal canal afferents similarly tested during preflight and postflight control studies. Adaptation of the afferent response to passive yaw rotation on the 1st postflight day was also greater. These results suggest that at least one component of the vestibular end organ (the semicircular canals) is transiently modified after exposure to 14 days of microgravity. It is unclear whether the changes are secondary to other effects of microgravity, such as calcium loss, or an adaptive response. If the response is adaptive, then this report is the first evidence that the response of the vestibular end organ may be modified (presumably by the central nervous system via efferent connections) after prolonged unusual vestibular stimulation. If this is the case, the sites of plasticity of vestibular responses may not be exclusively within central nervous system vestibular structures, as previously believed.


2015 ◽  
Vol 129 (5) ◽  
pp. 430-434 ◽  
Author(s):  
D-K Kim ◽  
D-R Kim ◽  
S H Jeong ◽  
G J Kim ◽  
K-H Chang ◽  
...  

AbstractObjectives:This study was conducted to investigate the angles and orientation of semicircular canals, and the coplanarity of functional canal pairs.Methods:Fluid signals in semicircular canals were reconstructed with three-dimensional reconstruction software using 20 temporal bone magnetic resonance images of normal subjects. The angles between each pair of semicircular canals were measured.Results:The mean angles between the anterior and horizontal semicircular canal plane, the horizontal and posterior semicircular canal plane, and the anterior and posterior semicircular canal plane were 83.7°, 82.5° and 88.4°, respectively. Pairs of contralateral synergistic canal planes were formed 15.1° between the right and left horizontal semicircular canal planes, 21.2° between the right anterior and left posterior semicircular canal, and 21.7° between the left anterior and right posterior semicircular canal.Conclusion:Each semicircular canal makes an almost right angle with other canals, but synergistically acting functional canal pairs of both ears do not lie in exactly the same plane.


1970 ◽  
Vol 53 (2) ◽  
pp. 501-514
Author(s):  
J. H. TEN KATE ◽  
H. H. VAN BARNEVELD ◽  
J. W. KUIPER

1. The dimensions of the semicircular canals of pike can be expressed as allometric functions of the body length L. 2. The equal sensitivity of pike of different sizes to rotatory stimulation can be explained as a quadratic bending of the cupula. 3. In the pike the sensitivity is of the same order of magnitude for the vertical and horizontal semicircular canals. 4. In the pike the growth rate of the volumes of duct and ampulla is the same for the horizontal semicircular canal and for the posterior semicircular canal. 5. The special growth rate of the dimensions of the horizontal semicircular canal of the ray can be explained by a quadratic bending of the cupula. 6. For equally large cupulae the sensitivity of the horizontal semicircular canal is of the same order of magnitude for twenty-three mammals, fourteen birds and one reptile as it is for the pike. 7. Within the limits of error the ‘growth rate’ of the diameter of the narrow duct is the same in mammals as in the pike. 8. At the same body mass the absolute value of the diameter of the narrow duct is smaller in mammals than in the pike by a factor of 1.69. 9. For a body mass of 1 kg the value of the enclosed area of the horizontal semicircular canal is 6 times smaller in mammals than in pike. 10. The model of the overcritically damped oscillator for the semicircular canal remains valid during growth if a quadratic bending of the cupula is assumed.


1982 ◽  
Vol 48 (4) ◽  
pp. 891-903 ◽  
Author(s):  
Y. Uchino ◽  
N. Hirai ◽  
S. Suzuki

1. The axonal trajectories of excitatory vestibuloocular neurons and their synaptic contacts with extraocular motoneurons were studied by means of spike-triggered signal averaging and microstimulation techniques. A majority of the excitatory neurons related to the vertical semicircular canals were located in the border of the descending and medial nuclei and the rostral half of the descending nucleus. 2. Individual vestibuloocular neurons activated by stimulation of the ampullary nerve of the anterior semicircular canal excited motoneurons within both the contralateral inferior oblique and contralateral superior rectus motoneuron pools. 3. Individual vestibuloocular neurons receiving input from the ampullary nerve of the posterior semicircular canal excited motoneurons in both the contralateral trochlear nucleus and contralateral inferior rectus motoneuron pools. The branching pattern of single vestibuloocular neurons activated by the anterior and posterior canals probably underlies conjugate eye movement during vertical head rotation. 4. Time to peak and shape indices of unitary excitatory postsynaptic potentials (EPSPs) suggested that the location of the synaptic contact of vestibuloocular neurons was on the soma or proximal dendrites of the target extraocular motoneurons. 5. In contrast, we did not find conclusive evidence that single vestibuloocular neurons receiving input from the horizontal semicircular canal give off axon collaterals to motoneurons innervating both the contralateral lateral rectus and the ipsilateral medial rectus muscles. Projection of horizontal vestibuloocular neurons to motoneurons supplying individual muscles might be useful for convergence during horizontal head movement.


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