Video-oculography in mice

Eye movements are very important in order to track an object or to stabilize an image on the retina during movement. Animals without a fovea, such as the mouse, have a limited capacity to lock their eyes onto a target. In contrast to these target directed eye movements, compensatory ocular eye movements are easily elicited in afoveate animals. Compensatory ocular movements are generated by processing vestibular and optokinetic information into a command signal that will drive the eye muscles. The processing of the vestibular and optokinetic information can be investigated separately and together, allowing the specification of a deficit in the oculomotor system. The oculomotor system can be tested by evoking an optokinetic reflex (OKR), vestibulo-ocular reflex (VOR) or a visually-enhanced vestibulo-ocular reflex (VVOR). The OKR is a reflex movement that compensates for "full-field" image movements on the retina, whereas the VOR is a reflex eye movement that compensates head movements. The VVOR is a reflex eye movement that uses both vestibular as well as optokinetic information to make the appropriate compensation. The cerebellum monitors and is able to adjust these compensatory eye movements. Therefore, oculography is a very powerful tool to investigate brain-behavior relationship under normal as well as under pathological conditions (f.e. of vestibular, ocular and/or cerebellar origin). Testing the oculomotor system, as a behavioral paradigm, is interesting for several reasons. First, the oculomotor system is a well understood neural system. Second, the oculomotor system is relative simple; the amount of possible eye movement is limited by its ball-in-socket architecture ("single joint") and the three pairs of extra-ocular muscles. Third, the behavioral output and sensory input can easily be measured, which makes this a highly accessible system for quantitative analysis. Many behavioral tests lack this high level of quantitative power. And finally, both performance as well as plasticity of the oculomotor system can be tested, allowing research on learning and memory processes. Genetically modified mice are nowadays widely available and they form an important source for the exploration of brain functions at various levels. In addition, they can be used as models to mimic human diseases. Applying oculography on normal, pharmacologically-treated or genetically modified mice is a powerful research tool to explore the underlying physiology of motor behaviors under normal and pathological conditions. Here, we describe how to measure video-oculography in mice.