Recovery mechanism of postural disturbance after vestibular neurectomy

Sectioning of the unilateral vestibular nerve of the bull frog resulted in tilting of the head and the body. The angle of head tilt was periodically measured. The angle returned to 0 degree in an average of 7.3 weeks. A morphological study demonstrated normal structure of the sensory epithelia and a well-regenerated nerve bundle. Also, discrete action potentials could be recorded from the nerve centrally to the cut site of the vestibular nerve. These results indicate that recovery from the tilting involves two mechanisms, one being central compensation and the other reactivation of the sensory cell-nerve unit.