Abstract
Vestibular disorders, by inducing significant posturo-locomotor and cognitive disorders, can significantly impair the most basic tasks of everyday life. Their precise diagnosis is essential to implement appropriate therapeutic countermeasures. Monitoring their evolution is also very important to validate or, on the contrary, to adapt the undertaken therapeutic actions. To date, the diagnosis methods of posturo-locomotor impairments are restricted to examinations that most often lack sensitivity and precision. In the present work we studied the alterations of the dynamic weight distribution in a rodent model of sudden and complete unilateral vestibular loss. We used a system of force sensors connected to a data analysis system to quantify in real time and in an automated way the weight bearing of the animal on the ground. We show here that sudden, unilateral, complete and permanent loss of the vestibular inputs causes a severe alteration of the dynamic ground weight distribution of vestibulo lesioned rodents. Characteristics of alterations in the dynamic weight distribution vary over time and follow the sequence of appearance and disappearance of the various symptoms that compose the vestibular syndrome. This study reveals for the first time that dynamic weight bearing is a very sensitive parameter for evaluating posturo-locomotor function impairment. Associated with more classical vestibular examinations, this paradigm can considerably enrich the methods for assessing and monitoring vestibular disorders. Systematic application of this type of evaluation to the dizzy or unstable patient could improve the detection of vestibular deficits and allow predicting better their impact on posture and walk. Thus it could also allow a better follow-up of the therapeutic approaches for rehabilitating gait and balance.
Highlights
We analysed in a sample of 11 adult Long Evans male rats the consequences of unilateral vestibular neurectomy (UVN) on different parameters: 1- the percentage of time spent on two or four paws, 2- the percentage of time spent on the front paws, and, 3- the right/left and front/back weight distributions 4- the calculation of the barycenter-like measure
In conditions of reactivation of the vestibular syndrome, the same tendency as previously described was observed over the first three days after the lesion, with: an increase on the time spent on four paws from D1 to D3 and a decrease of the time spent on two paws at the same times
From Day 7 (D7) to D21, the time spent on four paws after reactivation of the vestibular syndrome (62.7% ± 3.6) was significantly higher (p
Summary
Central integration of the vestibular inputs with those of vision and proprioception allows the brain to have in real time, accurate information on the position of our body in space and on our degree of interaction with the environment. In turn this information allows setting appropriate motor responses to maintain static and dynamic balance through coordination of the reflexes of equilibration of the muscles from body, eyes, neck and head [1,2,3]. These vestibular disorders occur through alteration of the vestibulo spinal, vestibulo oculomotor, vestibulo cerebellar and cortical reflexes [3,4,5,6] (Fig 1)
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