Changes in monkey horizontal semicircular canal afferent responses after spaceflight

Abstract

Extracellular responses from single horizontal semicircular canal afferents in two rhesus monkeys were studied after recovery from a 14-day biosatellite (COSMOS 2044) orbital spaceflight. On the 1st postflight day, the mean gain for 9 different horizontal canal afferents, tested using one or several different passive yaw rotation waveforms, was nearly twice that for 20 horizontal canal afferents similarly tested during preflight and postflight control studies. Adaptation of the afferent response to passive yaw rotation on the 1st postflight day was also greater. These results suggest that at least one component of the vestibular end organ (the semicircular canals) is transiently modified after exposure to 14 days of microgravity. It is unclear whether the changes are secondary to other effects of microgravity, such as calcium loss, or an adaptive response. If the response is adaptive, then this report is the first evidence that the response of the vestibular end organ may be modified (presumably by the central nervous system via efferent connections) after prolonged unusual vestibular stimulation. If this is the case, the sites of plasticity of vestibular responses may not be exclusively within central nervous system vestibular structures, as previously believed.