A new study reveals that the vestibulo-ocular reflex, a brain circuit responsible for stabilizing gaze during movement, develops independently of sensory input in newborns.
An ancient brain circuit , which enables the eyes to reflexively rotate up as the body tilts down, tunes itself early in life as an animal develops, a new study finds. Led by researchers at NYU Grossman School of Medicine, the study revolves around how vertebrates, which includes humans and animals spanning evolution from primitive fish to mammals, stabilize their gaze as they move.
To do so they use a brain circuit that turns any shifts in orientation sensed by the balance (vestibular) system in their ears into an instant counter-movement by their eyes. Called the vestibulo-ocular reflex, the circuit enables the stable perception of surroundings. When it is broken -- by trauma, stroke, or a genetic condition -- a person may feel like the world bounces around every time their head or body moves. In adult vertebrates, it and other brain circuits are tuned by feedback from the senses (vision and balance organs). The current study authors were surprised to find that, in contrast, sensory input was not necessary for maturation of the reflex circuit in newborns. the study featured experiments done in zebrafish larvae, which have a similar gaze stabilizing reflex to the one in humans. Further, zebrafish are transparent, so researchers literally watched brain cells called neurons mature to understand the changes that let a newborn fish rotate its eyes up appropriately as its body tilts down (or its eyes down as its body tilts up). 'Discovering how vestibular reflexes come to be may help us find new ways to counter pathologies that affect balance or eye movements,' says study senior author David Schoppik, PhD, associate professor in the Departments of Otolaryngology -- Head & Neck Surgery, Neuroscience & Physiology, and the Neuroscience Institute, at NYU Langone Healt
Brain Circuit Vestibulo-Ocular Reflex Gaze Stabilization Newborn Development Sensory Input
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