Role of primate cerebellar lobulus petrosus of paraflocculus in smooth pursuit eye movement control revealed by chemical lesion

Abstract

The primate lobulus petrosus (LP) of the cerebellar paraflocculus receives inputs from visual system-related pontine nuclei, and projects to eye movement-related cerebellar nuclei. To reveal a potential involvement of LP in oculomotor control, we lesioned LP unilaterally by local injections of ibotenic acid in three Macaca fuscata. We examined the effects of lesion on eye movements evoked by step (3°)–ramp (5–15°/s) moving target. To step–ramp moving target, the monkeys showed an initial slow eye movement and later a small catch-up saccade, which was followed by the post-saccadic pursuit nearly matching to the velocity of the ramp target motion. After LP lesioning, the velocity of post-saccadic pursuits in the ipsiversive and down-ward directions decreased by 20–40% in all three monkeys. These deficits lasted for at least 1 month, and some recovery was observed. In the amplitudes of catch-up saccades, no consistent changes were seen among the three monkeys after LP lesioning. These results suggest an involvement of LP in the primate smooth pursuit eye movement control.