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Visual-vestibular interaction in progressive supranuclear palsy
1Department of Neurology, Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center and University Hospitals, Case Western Reserve University, 11100 Euclid Avenue, Cleveland, OH 44106-5040, USA.
Abstract:
We measured the stability of gaze during horizontal head rotations at 1-3 Hz in four patients with progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP), while they viewed a stationary target. Median gain of compensatory eye movements was 0.94, similar to control subjects. During rotation in darkness, median gain of vestibulo-ocular reflex (VOR) was 0.88, similar to controls. Conversely, the median gain of smooth-pursuit eye movements at 1.0 Hz was 0.23, lower than controls. A simple superposition model of smooth pursuit and the VOR could not account for the observed gaze stability during fixation. Our results are further evidence that a visually mediated mechanism, independent of smooth pursuit, optimizes eye movements to compensate for head rotations.