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Vestibular Control of Muscular Tone and Posture

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 January 2016

Charles H. Markham
Charles H. Markham*
Affiliation:
UCLA School of Medicine, Department of Neurology, Los Angeles
*
UCLA School of Medicine, Department of Neurology, Los Angeles, CA 90024 U.S.A.
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Abstract:

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The vestibulospinal system helps to maintain upright posture and head stability. The semicircular canals and their short latency connections to the neck motoneurons, largely via the medial vestibulospinal tract, respond to angular accelerations so as to stabilize the head in space. The paired otolith organs, the utricles placed approximately horizontally, and the saccules vertically, respond to linear acceleration including gravity. Their influence leads, via the lateral vestibulospinal tract, to excitation of ipsilateral extensor motoneurons of the limbs and trunk, and to inhibition of reciprocal flexor motoneurons. Linear displacement of the otoliths leads to bracing of the limbs and body so as to maintain upright posture, and to extend the limbs so as to help in landing after sudden falls.

Type
Research Article
Information
Canadian Journal of Neurological Sciences , Volume 14 , Issue S3 , August 1987 , pp. 493 - 496
Copyright
Copyright © Canadian Neurological Sciences Federation 1987

References

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