Cranial Neuropathies I, V, and VII–XII
Philip B. Gorelick, Fernando D. Testai, Graeme J. Hankey, Joanna M. Wardlaw in Hankey's Clinical Neurology, 2020
The first-order sensory neurons of the vestibular pathway are bipolar cells located in Scarpa's ganglion (vestibular ganglion), in the fundus of the internal auditory meatus. The vestibular portion of the membranous labyrinth is divided into two sections: kinetic labyrinth (formed by the semicircular canals), and the static labyrinth (formed by the saccule and utricle). The vestibular bipolar neurons send peripheral projections to the hair cells in the semicircular canals, saccule, and utricle. Their central projections are to the four vestibular nuclei in the brainstem (lateral, medial, superior, and inferior) located in the caudal pons and rostral medulla. From the vestibular nuclei, central fibers are projected to the nuclei of the CNs responsible for extraocular movements (through the medial longitudinal fasciculus), the spinal cord (via the lateral and medial vestibulospinal tracts), and the flocculonodular lobe of the cerebellum.37
Brain Motor Centers and Pathways
Nassir H. Sabah in Neuromuscular Fundamentals, 2020
There are four vestibular nuclei on each side, located in the rostral medulla and caudal pons (Figure 12.17): superior, lateral, medial, and inferior. The lateral vestibular nucleus is also known as Deiters’ nucleus. Cerebellar afferents to the vestibular nuclei project ipsilaterally from the vermis of the anterior lobe to the lateral vestibular nucleus, from the flocculonodular lobe to the other three vestibular nuclei, and bilaterally from the fastigial nucleus to the lateral and inferior vestibular nuclei. The vestibular nuclei integrate a broad range of visual and somatosensory inputs, including inputs from the spinal cord, particularly neck proprioceptive information, inputs from subcortical visual centers, and inputs from the cerebral cortex, including premotor head movement commands.
Disorders of Sensation, Motion, and Body Schema
Rolland S. Parker in Concussive Brain Trauma, 2016
Maintaining balance requires visual, somatosensory (proprioceptive), and vestibular sensations. The vestibular system controls both balance and eye movements. The sensory organ detects head velocity, acceleration, and orientation to gravity, creating a signal that the brain uses to develop a subjective awareness of head position in space and producing motor reflexes for balance and equilibrium. Displacement is monitored by sensors for linear and angular acceleration (Baloh, 2003). The output is carried by the vestibulocochlear N. (VIII) to the lateral medulla, and thence to a central processor (vestibulonuclear complex and vestibulocerebellum). Vestibular nuclei integrate vestibular, proprioceptive, and somatosensory information (Hain & Helminski, 2003). Central processor outflow is sent to:
Current perspectives on galvanic vestibular stimulation in the treatment of Parkinson’s disease
Published in Expert Review of Neurotherapeutics, 2021
Soojin Lee, Aiping Liu, Martin J. McKeown
Anatomically, the vestibular nerve combines with the cochlear nerve and becomes the vestibulocochlear nerve. Traveling by the cerebellopontine angle, this nerve enters the brainstem at the pontomedullary junction where the vestibular and cochlear nerves separate [49]. Some of the nerve fibers project to the flocculonodular lobe and nearby vermis of the cerebellum, while the majority of the fibers project to the ipsilateral vestibular complex in the pons [49]. The vestibular complex is where the vestibular inputs are primarily processed, and consists of four major nuclei including medial, lateral, superior, and inferior [50] as well as several adjacent cell groups. The vestibular pathways from the vestibular nuclei have different functional roles. Projections to the spinal cord are essential for postural reflexes to adjust head and body movements [51], and projections to the ocular motor nuclei are critical for compensatory eye movements during head motion (the vestibular-ocular reflex). Projections to the cerebellum are important for balance, postural control, and movement coordination [49], and pathways to the thalamus, hippocampus, and ultimately to the cortical areas are responsible for multisensory integration [50,52], contributing to movement planning and execution, spatial navigation and memory, attention, and emotional processing [52–54].
Quantitative separation of the depressive phase of bipolar disorder and major depressive disorder using electrovestibulography
Published in The World Journal of Biological Psychiatry, 2019
Brian J. Lithgow, Zahra Moussavi, Paul B. Fitzgerald
There are substantial neurobiological links between the brain processes regulating vestibular activity in the brainstem and brain regions implicated in the neurobiology of MDD and BD (Gurvich et al. 2013; Lithgow et al. 2015, 2018). The vestibular nucleus receives substantial input from several brain regions (Balaban et al. 2011) broadly implicated in the pathophysiology of depression including the locus coeruleus, dorsal raphe and parabrachial nuclei (Gurvich et al. 2013). Structural, throughput and/or metabolic change in the dorsal raphe, parabrachial nuclei and locus coeruleus (primary sources of norepinephrine/ACh/serotonin) occur, and provide multiple potential pathways for a change in vestibular (nucleus) response in those participants with depression (Lithgow et al. 2015, 2018). The vestibular nucleus connects via the efferent vestibular system to provide a potential path to influence peripheral vestibular responses. Based on these connections, the vestibular system has been suggested as a potential window for exploring psychiatric symptomology (Gurvich et al. 2013).
Assessing lesion location, visual midline perception and proprioception may assist outcome predictions for people affected by lateropulsion
Published in Disability and Rehabilitation, 2023
Ettie Ben-Shabat, Prue Morgan
The central processing of vestibular inputs commences in the vestibular nucleus which is located in the medulla and pons. Ipsilateral inputs then ascend the brain stem bilaterally as they travel to the posterolateral and paramedial nuclei of the thalamus. The first location of multisensory integration is between the vestibular and visual systems in the superior collicuili of the midbrain, where the vestibulo-ocular reflex is mediated. Another location of multisensory integration is the posterolateral nucleus of the thalamus where both vestibular and proprioceptive inputs converge. From the thalamus, vestibular inputs travel to the non-dominant parieto-insular-vestibular cortex which testifies to lateralisation in the cortical processing of vestibular inputs [6]. Vestibular inputs also travel to the cerebellum, thus a large portion of cerebellar lesions can also manifest as lateropulsion [7].
Related Knowledge Centers
- Brainstem
- Cerebellum
- Cranial Nerve Nucleus
- Lateral Vestibular Nucleus
- Pons
- Vestibular Nerve
- Medulla Oblongata
- Trigeminal Nerve
- Rhomboid Fossa
- Medial Vestibular Nucleus