Upbeat Nystagmus with an Unusual Velocity-Decreasing and Increasing Waveform: a Sign of Gaze-Holding Dysfunction in the Paramedian Tracts in the Medulla?

Abstract

We report a patient with spontaneous upbeat nystagmus (UBN) due to an ischemic lesion involving the paramedian tract (PMT) in the medulla. Eye movement recordings, using an infrared video-oculography (VOG) system, showed that the slow phase of the nystagmus was initially velocity-decreasing but gradually became velocity-increasing. Simulation of the nystagmus with a mathematical model supports a role for the PMT in relaying premotor signals for vertical gaze holding to the cerebellum. Our model shows that the disruption in cerebellar input from PMT can lead to the velocity-increasing waveform of the nystagmus, whereas the velocity-decreasing waveform could be related to a mismatch between the innervational commands to the ocular muscles (the pulse and step) needed to hold gaze steady.