CHANGES IN SENSITIVITY OF VESTIBULAR NUCLEUS NEURONS INDUCED BY CROSS-AXIS ADAPTATION OF THE VESTIBULOOCULAR REFLEX IN THE CAT

In alert, chronically-prepared cats, we studied response characteristi cs of well-isolated vestibular nucleus neurons (n=9) while pairing yaw rotation with a pitch optokinetic stimulus. resulting in cross-axis a daptation of the horizontal vestibulo-ocular reflex. Each neuron's sen sitivity to whole body rotation ill a variety of axes in three-dimensi onal space was determined. When tested in darkness following adaptatio n, neurons showed statistically significant increases in sensitivity t u yaw but nor vertical plane rotations, suggesting participation in re flex plasticity.