Cellular Mechanisms of Vestibular Compensation

Abstract

Vestibular compensation, the behavioral recovery that takes place after unilateral vestibular deafferentation, is a complex and multifactorial process involving synaptic and neuronal plasticity in the vestibular nuclei, cerebellum and related structures. Recent experimental evidence suggests that changes in the intrinsic properties of the vestibular nucleus neurons, changes in the efficacy of their inhibitory synaptic inputs, activity-dependent rewiring of synaptic connectivity in the vestibular brainstem, and changes in the cerebellar control of the brainstem neurons are involved in the rebalancing of resting activity of the vestibular neurons after deafferentation. In this article, we review recent advances in understanding the cellular and molecular mechanisms of vestibular compensation.