Abstract
Horizontal movements of both eyes were recorded simultaneously using scleral search coils in 2 rhesus monkeys before and after the COSMOS 2229 spaceflight of 1992–1993. Another 9 monkeys were tested at comparable time intervals and served as controls. Ocular vergence, defined as the difference in horizontal position between the left and right eyes, was measured during off-vertical yaw axis rotation (OVAR) in darkness. Vergence was modulated sinusoidally as a function of head position with regard to gravity during OVAR. The amplitude of peak-to-peak modulation increased with increments in tilt of the angle of the rotational axis (OVAR tilt angle) that ranged from 15° to 90°. Of the 11 monkeys tested, 1 had no measurable modulation in vergence. In the other 10, the mean amplitude of the peak to peak modulation was 5.5°±1.3° at 90° tilt. Each of these monkeys had maximal vergence when its nose was pointed close to upward (gravity back; mean phase: -0.9°±26°). After space flight, the modulation in vergence was reduced by over 50% for the two flight monkeys, but the phase of vergence modulation was not altered. The reduction in vergence modulation was sustained for the 11-day postflight testing period. We conclude that changes in vergence are induced in monkeys by the sinusoidal component of gravity acting along the naso-occipital axis during yaw axis OVAR, and that the modulation of the vergence reflex is significantly less sensitive to linear acceleration after space flight.
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Dai, M., Raphan, T., Kozlovskaya, I. et al. Modulation of vergence by off-vertical yaw axis rotation in the monkey normal characteristics and effects of space flight. Exp Brain Res 111, 21–29 (1996). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00229551
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00229551