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. 2015 Jan 6;5:285. doi: 10.3389/fneur.2014.00285

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Copyright © 2015 Lacour and Bernard-Demanze.

This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

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(A–D) The crucial role of early and active retraining in animal models of vestibular loss. Data from animal models showing the effects of restraining the post-lesion sensorimotor activity. (A) The effects of sensorimotor restriction (SMR) applied just after a unilateral vestibular neurectomy (UVN) in the monkey (baboon: Papio papio) for a short (4 days) or longer (20 days) time duration on the behavioral state of recovery (states I–IV for maximal to minimal posture-locomotor deficits, respectively: ordinates). The behavioral recovery was frozen as long as the SMR was applied, and the time to full recovery was strongly delayed compared with unrestrained animals, the more so the longer the SMR [modified from Lacour et al. (47)]. (B,C) The effects of 1 week of SMR applied at different time windows after UVN on the recovery of posture (B) and of posturo-locomotor performance (C) in the cat model. The SMR was applied very early after UVN (SMR 1: day 3 to day 9) or later during the compensatory stage (SMR 2: day 14 to day 20). Postural asymmetry (B) as well as dynamic equilibrium (C) were strongly delayed in the cats submitted to SMR1 and SMR2 compared with unrestrained animals. More drastic effects were observed for the dynamic equilibrium function with a final level of recovery 1 year post-lesion limited to 40 and 50% of the preoperative maximal performance for the SMR 1 and SMR 2, respectively [modified from Xerri and Lacour (48)]. (D) The role of dynamic visual cues on the neuronal response of vestibular nuclei cells to optokinetic stimulation in the UVN cat. In the intact animal, the neuronal response (in impulses per second) was limited to the low frequency range of optokinetic stimuli (0–0.5 Hz). In the UVN cats submitted to passive visual optokinetic stimulation, there was no change compared with the controls, while the UVN cats dynamically receiving the optokinetic stimulation showed strongly increased neuronal responses, the more so the higher the frequency. In cats moving freely in their optokinetic environment, the visual cues substituted for vestibular input at high frequencies, up to 1 Hz, a result never seen in intact cats, which indicates that the post-lesion experience may determine new neuronal properties that alter the recovery process [modified from Zennou-Azogui et al. (49)].