Premium
Physiology of the Eyelid Motor System
Author(s) -
DELGADOGARCÍA JOSÉ M.,
GRUART AGNÈS,
TRIGO JOSÉ A.
Publication year - 2003
Publication title -
annals of the new york academy of sciences
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.712
H-Index - 248
eISSN - 1749-6632
pISSN - 0077-8923
DOI - 10.1196/annals.1303.001
Subject(s) - eyelid , reflex , brainstem , neuroscience , motor system , corneal reflex , eye movement , abducens nerve , psychology , anatomy , medicine , palsy , surgery , pathology , alternative medicine
The eyelid motor system represents an excellent experimental model for the study of reflex and learned motor responses. Eyelid responses can be recorded quantitatively with the search coil in a magnetic‐field technique. Stimuli able to evoke reflex blinks (air puffs, flashes of light, tones) can also be controlled quantitatively. Eyelid movements can be classified as spontaneous, passive (such as those following eye saccades), reflex, and acquired with classical conditioning procedures. Information is available regarding the firing activity of brainstem motoneuronal pools (abducens, accessory abducens, and facial motoneurons) involved in these types of eyelid response. In particular, facial motoneurons present different encoding properties for the generation of reflex against learned eyelid responses. In cats, accessory abducens motoneurons are involved only in reflex (but not in learned) blinks. The recent description of the complete organization of premotoneuronal pathways related to eyelid motorics opens new experimental possibilities for the study of this particular motor system.