Effect of unilateral vestibular deafferentation on the initial human vestibulo-ocular reflex to surge translation

Transient whole-body surge (fore-aft) translation at 0.5 G peak acceleration was administered to six subjects with unilateral vestibular deafferentation (UVD), and eight age-matched controls. Subjects viewed eccentric targets to determine if linear vestibulo-ocular reflex (LVOR) asymmetry might lateralize otolith deficits. Eye rotation was measured using magnetic search coils. Immediately before surge, subjects viewed a luminous target 50 cm away, centered or displaced 10 degrees horizontally or vertically. The target was extinguished during randomly directed surges. LVOR gain relative to ideal velocity in subjects with UVD for the contralesional horizontally eccentric target (0.59 +/- 0.08, mean +/- SEM) did not differ significantly from normal (0.50 +/- 0.04), but gain for the ipsilesional eccentric target (0.35 +/- 0.02) was significantly less than normal (0.48 +/- 0.03, P < 0.05). Normal subjects had mean gain asymmetry for horizontally eccentric targets of 0.17 +/- 0.03, but asymmetry in UVD was significantly increased to 0.35 +/- 0.05 (P < 0.05). Four of six subjects with UVD had maximum gain asymmetry outside normal 95% confidence limits. Asymmetry did not correlate with UVD duration. Gain for 10 degrees vertically eccentric targets averaged 0.38 +/- 0.14 for subjects with UVD, insignificantly lower than the normal value of 0.75 +/- 0.15 (P > 0.05). Surge LVOR latency was symmetrical in UVD, and did not differ significantly from normal. There was no significant difference in response between dark and visible target conditions until 200 ms after surge onset. Chronic human UVD, on average, significantly impairs the surge LVOR for horizontally eccentric targets placed ipsilesionally, but this asymmetry is small relative to interindividual variation.