Neuronal correlates of vestibulo-ocular reflex adaptation in the alert guinea-pig

The spiking behaviour of 66 second-order vestibular neurons was studied in alert, chronically prepared guinea-pigs during the horizontal vestibulo-ocular reflex (VOR). Among the 66 studied neurons, seven were held long enough (> 1 h) to compare their spiking behaviour before and after a training procedure inducing a decrease in the gain of the VOR. When tested in darkness following adaptation, five of them showed a significant decrease of their sensitivity to head rotation. However, the resting discharge of these five neurons remained unchanged. This suggests that VOR adaptation is mediated not only by changes in synaptic efficacities but also by modifications in the spike generator which transforms synaptic inputs into a pattern of action potentials.