Summary
-
1.
The spike discharges of single first order afferents from the utricle were recorded in the isolated head of the guitarfish and tested for responses to maintained spatial orientation, to transitions and to a small positional jitter representing natural perturbations. Sensitivity to maintained orientation is referred to as “tonic,” and to transitions and jitter as “phasic.”
-
2.
Most responsive cells were either phasically, or phasically and tonically sensitive. A few were exclusively tonic. Tonic responsiveness implied that maintained orientation was associated with a stationary discharge which differed from one position to another; it sometimes differed also from one station to another at the same position. Transitions from one position to another evoked a rate change that later adapted to the level of the tonic response. Opposite transitions evoked rate changes in the opposite sense. The phasic rate change was usually larger for transitions that increased the rate. Many units were non-responsive. The prevalence of phasic over tonic sensitivity is stressed, and the remarkable heterogeneity of utricular afferents confirms that the macula is not uniform, probably coding a wide variety of head accelerations.
-
3.
The jitter increased the ongoing scatter of intervals and binrates, changing, complicating, or abolishing their periodicity. The jitter could influence the effects of maintained orientation, increasing, decreasing, inverting or even revealing directional sensitivity. It could also force previously independent units into an orientation-dependent correlation; hence, between-cell correlation is potentially useful in coding of spatial orientation. Naturally occurring perturbations may constitute a significant issue of normal operation.
-
4.
Certain afferents from the horizontal semicircular canal showed a slow tonic response to maintained spatial orientation.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Barlow, J.S.: Inertial navigation as a basis for animal navigation. J. theor. Biol. 6, 76–117 (1964)
Bryant, H.L., Jr., Ruiz Marcos, A.J., Segundo, J.P.: Correlations of neuronal spike discharges produced by monosynaptic corrections and by common inputs. J. Neurophysiol. 36, 205–225 (1973)
Budelmann, B.V., Wolff, H.G.: Gravity response from angular acceleration receptors in Octopus vulgaris. J comp. Physiol. 85, 283–290 (1973)
Davies, W.D.T.: System identification for self-adaptive control. New York: Wiley-Interscience 1970
Fernández, C., Goldberg, J.M., Abend, W.K.: Response to static tilts of peripheral neurons innervating otolith organs of the squirrel monkey. J. Neurophysiol. 35, 978–997 (1972)
Fujita, Y., Rosenberg, J., Segundo, J.P.: Activity of cells in the lateral vestibular nucleus as a function of head position. J. Physiol. (Lond.) 196, 1–18 (1968)
Gernandt, B.E.: Vestibular mechanisms. In: Handbook of Physiology, Section 1, Neurophysiology, Vol. 1. Ed. by J. Field, H.W. Magoun, V.E. Hall, pp. 549–564. Washington: Amer. Physiol. Soc. 1959
Ledoux, A.: Activité eléctrique des nerfs des canaux semicirculaires du saccule et du l'utricule chez la grenouille. Acta oto-rhino-laryng. belg. 3, 335–349 (1949)
Lindeman, H.H.: Studies on the morphology of the sensory regions of the vestibular appara tus. Ergebn. Anat. 42, 4–113 (1969)
Loe, P.R., Tomko, D.L., Werner, G.: The neural signal of angular head position in primary afferent vestibular nerve axon. J. Physiol. (Lond.) 230, 29–50 (1973)
Lorente de Nó, R.: Etudes sur l'anatomie et la physiologie du labyrinthe de l'oreille et du VIII nerf. Trav. Res, Biol. Univ. (Madrid) 24, 53–153 (1926)
Lowenstein, O.: Comparative physiology of the otolith organs. Brit. med. Bull. 12, 110–114 (1956)
Lowenstein, O.: Physiology of vestibular receptors. In: Basic aspects of central vestibular mechanisms. Ed. by A. Brodal, O. Pompeiano. Progress in Brain Research, Vol. 37. New York 1972
Lowenstein, O.: “Dynamic” function of the otolith organs. (in press)
Lowenstein, O., Roberts, T.D.M.: The equilibrium function of the otolith organs of the thorn back ray (Raja clavata). J. Physiol. (Lond.) 110, 392–415 (1949)
Lowenstein, O., Roberts, T.D.M.: The localization and analysis of the responses to vibration from the isolated elasmobranch labyrinth. A contribution to the problem of the evolution of hearing in vertebrates. J. Physiol. (Lond.) 114, 471–489 (1951)
Lowenstein, O., Sand, A.: The individual and integrated activity of the semicircular canals of the elasmobranch labyrinth. J. Physiol. (Lond.) 99, 89–101 (1940)
Milsum, J.M.: Biological Control Systems Analysis. New York: McGraw-Hill 1966
Milsum, J.H., Melvill Jones, G.: Dynamic asymmetry in neural components of the vestibular system. Ann. N.Y. Acad. Sci. 156, 851–871 (1969)
O'Leary, D.P.: An electrokinetic model of transduction in the semicircular canal. Biophys. J. 10, 859–875 (1970)
O'Leary, D.P., Segundo, J.P., Vidal, J.J.: Finite time stability of gravity receptors. Kyberne tik (in press, 1974)
Segundo, J.P., Perkel, D.H., Wyman, H., Hegstad, H., Moore, G.P.: Input-output relations in computer-simulated nerve cells. Influences of the statistical properties, strength, number and interdependence of excitatory presynaptic terminals. Kybernetik 4, 157–171 (1968)
Vidal, J., Jennerod, M., Lifschitz, W., Levitan, H., Rosenberg, J., Segundo, J.P.: Static and dynamic properties of gravity-sensitive receotirs in the cat vestibular system. Kybernetik 9, 205–215 (1971)
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Macadar, O., Wolfe, G.E., O'Leary, D.P. et al. Response of the elasmobranch utricle to maintained spatial orientation, transitions and jitter. Exp Brain Res 22, 1–12 (1975). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00235407
Received:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00235407