Cerebellar role in smooth pursuit movement

It is generally believed that pursuit eye movements are unaffected by cerebellar cortical atrophy or cerebellectomy. The present study was performed on patients who underwent partial vermis and hemisphere ablations as a result of severe cranial injury or cerebellar tumors. Eye movements were measured by DC electro-oculography. A clear disparity of the slow phase of the optokinetic nystagmus was observed. When eye movements were contralateral to the ablated side the slow phase of optokinetic nystagmus was statistically slower than drum or visual field velocity. It is suggested that the cerebellum network is involved in the mechanisms of the smooth pursuit movement.