The objective of the proposed research is to continue our studies of mesencephalic, pontine and medullary brainstem structures that are part of or modulate pathways to ocular motoneurons. Three different projects will be undertaken, each of which will employ alert behaving monkeys. Eye position will be accurately measured by an electromagnetic technique and the animal will be trained to track a small moving light spot while subjected to whole body oscillations and full-field movements of the visual world. In the first project, the behavior of the saccadic system will be studied by recording the activity of single cells that are thought to drive the brainstem circuitry involved in saccade generation. In the second project, various neurons believed to particiate in the vestibulo-ocular reflect that stbilizes the visual word on the retina during head rotations will be studied; experiments have been designed to test whether such neurons respond to visual and vestibular inputs and whether they project to ocular motoneurons. In the third project, the discharge patterns of neurons in the pretectum and the nuclei of the accessory optic tract will be recorded to determine their possible role in smooth pursuit eye movements and the optokinetic eye movements generated by full-field movement of the visual surroundings. Studies such as ours that demonstrate the pathways and neural structures involved in different types of eye movements have made it possible to devise clinical tests to diagnose the site of lesions or strokes that cause specific eye movement disorders in human patients.

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
National Eye Institute (NEI)
Type
Research Project (R01)
Project #
5R01EY000745-17
Application #
3255532
Study Section
Visual Sciences B Study Section (VISB)
Project Start
1976-09-01
Project End
1989-08-31
Budget Start
1987-09-01
Budget End
1988-08-31
Support Year
17
Fiscal Year
1987
Total Cost
Indirect Cost
Name
University of Washington
Department
Type
Schools of Medicine
DUNS #
135646524
City
Seattle
State
WA
Country
United States
Zip Code
98195
Kojima, Yoshiko; Fuchs, Albert F; Soetedjo, Robijanto (2015) Adaptation and adaptation transfer characteristics of five different saccade types in the monkey. J Neurophysiol 114:125-37
Knight, T A (2012) Contribution of the frontal eye field to gaze shifts in the head-unrestrained rhesus monkey: neuronal activity. Neuroscience 225:213-36
Kojima, Yoshiko; Soetedjo, Robijanto; Fuchs, Albert F (2011) Effect of inactivation and disinhibition of the oculomotor vermis on saccade adaptation. Brain Res 1401:30-9
Hopp, J Johanna; Fuchs, Albert F (2010) Identifying sites of saccade amplitude plasticity in humans: transfer of adaptation between different types of saccade. Exp Brain Res 202:129-45
Kojima, Yoshiko; Soetedjo, Robijanto; Fuchs, Albert F (2010) Effects of GABA agonist and antagonist injections into the oculomotor vermis on horizontal saccades. Brain Res 1366:93-100
Fuchs, Albert F; Brettler, Sandra; Ling, Leo (2010) Head-free gaze shifts provide further insights into the role of the medial cerebellum in the control of primate saccadic eye movements. J Neurophysiol 103:2158-73
Kojima, Yoshiko; Soetedjo, Robijanto; Fuchs, Albert F (2010) Changes in simple spike activity of some Purkinje cells in the oculomotor vermis during saccade adaptation are appropriate to participate in motor learning. J Neurosci 30:3715-27
Kojima, Yoshiko; Soetedjo, Robijanto; Fuchs, Albert F (2010) Behavior of the oculomotor vermis for five different types of saccade. J Neurophysiol 104:3667-76
Soetedjo, Robijanto; Fuchs, Albert F; Kojima, Yoshiko (2009) Subthreshold activation of the superior colliculus drives saccade motor learning. J Neurosci 29:15213-22
Soetedjo, Robijanto; Kojima, Yoshiko; Fuchs, Albert F (2008) Complex spike activity in the oculomotor vermis of the cerebellum: a vectorial error signal for saccade motor learning? J Neurophysiol 100:1949-66

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