Abstract

Objective: Growing hypotheses indicate the galvanic vestibular stimulation (GVS) as an alternative method to manage the symptoms of parkinson’s disease (PD). GVS is easy and safe for use, and non-invasive. However, it is elusive how the neural information caused by GVS is transmitted in the central nervous system and relieves PD symptoms. To answer this question, we investigated the transmission of neural information by GVS in the central vestibular system, focused on vestibular nucleus (VN). Methods: Twenty guinea pigs were used for this study for the extracellular neuronal recordings in the VN. The neuronal responses to rotation and GVS were analyzed by curve-fitting, and the numerical responding features, amplitudes and baselines, were computed. The effects of stimuli were examined by comparing these features. Results: Twenty six vestibular neurons (15 regular and 11 irregular neurons) were recorded. Comparing the difference of baselines, we found the neural information was linearly transmitted with a reduced sensitivity (0.75). The linearity in the neural transmission was stronger in the neuronal groups with regular (Cor.Coef.=0.91) and low sensitive units (Cor.Coef.=0.93), compared with those with irregular (Cor.Coef.=0.86) and high-sensitive neurons (Cor.Coef.=0.77). Conclusion: The neural information by GVS was linearly transmitted no matter what the neuronal characteristics were.

• Keywords: Neural transmission; Galvanic vestibular stimulation; Vestibular nucleus;