vestibular system

The vestibular system can be divided into

the vestibular apparatus and central
vestibular nuclei. The vestibular apparatus
within the inner ear detects head motion and
position and transduces this information to a
neural signal. The vestibular nuclei are
primarily concerned with maintaining the
position of the head in space. The tracts that
descend from these nuclei mediate head-on-
neck and head-on-body adjustments.
VESTIBULAR APPARATUS
 BONY AND MEMBRANOUS
LABYRINTH
• Bony labyrinth is the bony tubules situated
in the petrous part of temporal bone
• Membranous labyrinth are tubes lying
within the bony labyrinth and constitutes
the functional part of vestibular apparatus
• ML is made up of
• 1. three semicircular canals
• 2. utricle and
• 3. saccule
• Bony canals are filled with perilymph
• The membranous semicircular ducts are
filled with endolymph
 Semicircular ducts
• 3 in number (anterior, posterior and lateral)
• Arranged in complimentary pairs bilaterally
• Dilated part at one end is called the ampulla
• Ampulla contains a crest called cristae ampularis
• On top of this is a loose gelatinous tissue called
Cupula contains hairs cells
• SCD and ampulla are filled with endolymph
 Synergic pairs (mirror images)
• L anterior with R anterior
• L posterior with R posterior
• L lateral with R lateral
 Position of SCD when the head is
bent -the chin touching the sternum
• The lateral SCD achieves the horizontal
position
• The ant project forward and 45o outward
• The post project backward and 45o
outwards
Excitation of hair cells
 Macula of saccule and utricle
• Macula is the sensory organ which detects
the position of the head
• Macula of utricle lies in horizontal plane
and detects the orientation of head in
upright posture
• Macula of saccule lies in vertical position
and detects the orientation of head in lying
position
 Macula and statoconia
• macula is covered by a gelatinous layer in
which statoconia (calcium carbonate
crystals) are present
• Macula also contains hair cells
• Cilia project from these hair cells which
embed into the gelatinous layer
• The base is connected to branches of
vestibular nerve
 FUNCTIONS of SCD
• When the head is bent and the body
rotated to right by a machine around a
horizontal axis
• There will be bending of cupula in the right
lateral duct towards the utricle producing
excitation
• Opposite effect on left SCD and
simultaneous inhibition
 Detection of head rotation by SCD
• SCD detects that the persons head is beginning
or stopping to rotate
• Example is rapid running in forward direction
and then suddenly turns to one side
• ?????????????????????????????
• Fall
• How is he prevented from falling
 Corrections
• SCD informs the brain to make corrections
• Cerebellum through vestibulocerebellum
makes this possible
Detection of linear acceleration by
utricle and saccule maculae
• When body suddenly pushed forwards
• Tendency to fall backwards
• Automatic response causes forward
bending of the body
• This is due to the changes in the
statoconia in the macula
Excitation of hair cells
VESTIBULAR APPARATUS
• while the right horizontal canal gets
stimulated during head rotations to the
right
• the left horizontal canal gets stimulated
(and thus predominantly signals) by head
rotations to the left.
 When the rotation is stopped
• What will be the result?????????
• Reverse changes occur
• How ????????
• After a while
• The Endolymph continues to move along
the direction of movement of the head due
to inertia
• Rotation is stopped
• right cupula ----inhibited
• Left cupula ------stimulated
 Nystagmus
• This unequal stimulation of cupula is
responsible for the production of
nystagmus
• The characteristic jerky movement of the
eye observed at the start and end of a
period of rotation is called nystagmus
 vestibulo-ocular reflex, VOR
• reflex that maintains visual fixation on
stationary points while the body rotates,
• When rotation starts, the eyes move
slowly in a direction opposite to the
direction of rotation
• When the limit of this movement is
reached, the eyes quickly snap back to a
new fixation point and then again move
slowly in the other direction
• Slow component
• Fast component
• The slow component is initiated by
impulses from the labyrinths;
• the quick component is triggered by a
center in the brainstem.
• Clinically, nystagmus is seen at rest in
patients with lesions of the brainstem
• By convention, the direction of
eye movement in nystagmus is
identified by the direction of
the quick component
• direction of the quick
component is in the direction
of rotation