By Marcello Cherchi, MD PhD
For clinicians
There are a number of electrophysiological tests relevant to otoneurology and neuro-otology. A few vestibular evoked myogenic potentials (VEMPs) have already entered standard clinical use, particularly cervical VEMPs and ocular VEMPs.
Other (non-myogenic) electrical potentials can be evoked by stimulation of the vestibular system. Their relevance for diagnosing disease is still being explored, so they have not yet entered clinical use. Two examples are listed below.
Vestibular summating potentials (Pastras et al. 2021) are probably analogous to auditory summating potentials, but so far have only been studied in animals.
The vestibular system has diffuse projections through the central nervous system, including the cerebral cortex (Brandt, Strupp, Dieterich 2014; de Waele et al. 2001; Fasold et al. 2002; Kheradmand and Winnick 2017; Miyamoto et al. 2005; Vidal et al. 1999), so another area of study has been vestibular evoked cerebral potentials (Nakul, Bartolomei, Lopez 2021).
References
Brandt T, Strupp M, Dieterich M (2014) Towards a concept of disorders of “higher vestibular function”. Front Integr Neurosci 8: 47. doi: 10.3389/fnint.2014.00047
de Waele C, Baudonniere PM, Lepecq JC, Tran Ba Huy P, Vidal PP (2001) Vestibular projections in the human cortex. Exp Brain Res 141: 541-51. doi: 10.1007/s00221-001-0894-7
Fasold O, von Brevern M, Kuhberg M, Ploner CJ, Villringer A, Lempert T, Wenzel R (2002) Human vestibular cortex as identified with caloric stimulation in functional magnetic resonance imaging. Neuroimage 17: 1384-93.
Kheradmand A, Winnick A (2017) Perception of Upright: Multisensory Convergence and the Role of Temporo-Parietal Cortex. Front Neurol 8: 552. doi: 10.3389/fneur.2017.00552
Miyamoto T, Fukushima K, Takada T, De Waele C, Vidal PP (2005) Saccular projections in the human cerebral cortex. Ann N Y Acad Sci 1039: 124-31. doi: 10.1196/annals.1325.012
Nakul E, Bartolomei F, Lopez C (2021) Vestibular-Evoked Cerebral Potentials. Front Neurol 12: 674100. doi: 10.3389/fneur.2021.674100
Pastras C, Stefani S, Camp A, Curthoys I, Brown D (2021) Summating Potentials from the Utricular Macula of Anaesthetized Guinea Pigs. Hearing Research: 108259. doi: 10.1016/j.heares.2021.108259
Vidal PP, De Waele C, Baudonniere PM, Lepecq JC, Ba Huy PT (1999) Vestibular projections in the human cortex. Ann N Y Acad Sci 871: 455-7.
