Biomedical subjects

C André-Deshays

Publications and source records attributed to C André-Deshays.

6 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed1993

Sensorimotor and perceptual function of muscle proprioception in microgravity.

Adaptive properties of the human proprioceptive systems were studied during the French-Soviet orbital flight (Aragatz mission, December 1988). The present space experiment investigated the hypothesis that the modifications of both biomechanical and physiological conditions occurring under microgravity involve considerable reorganization of body perception and postural control. The proprioceptive information originating in muscles is known to contribute, together with visual, vestibular, and sole cutaneous information to postural regulation. Moreover, by specifically activating the proprioceptive channel, muscle vibration is able to elicit both illusory movement sensations and postural responses. This experimental tool was used in microgravity in order to test various aspects of muscle sensory function. Ankle flexor and extensor vibration was applied under different experimental conditions. Quantitative analysis of motor responses was carried out on leg muscle EMG, goniometric, and kinesigraphic recordings. Joystick recordings and astronauts' comments were used to describe the kinaesthetic sensations. The main results were as follows: 1) Under microgravity, the sensitivity of muscle receptors remains unchanged. 2) During the flight, the tonic vibration reflexes (TVR) increased significantly in flexor muscles, which exhibited a sustained tonic activity. 3) The whole-body postural responses normally induced by ankle flexor muscle vibration were suppressed, whereas they remained unchanged or were only reduced when vibrations were applied to the ankle extensor muscles. In all cases, the postural response velocity decreased. 4) A disfacilitation of the vibration-induced postural illusions was observed to occur during long-term exposure to microgravity. These illusions became atypical however. For example: body lift illusion could be induced by tibialis anterior muscle vibration, whereas it was never induced in the controls. The characteristics of the illusory body movements described under normal gravity can be restored by artificially increasing the axial foot support forces during the flight. In conclusion, these data suggest that a functional reorganization of the proprioceptive information processing occurs in microgravity, affecting both perceptual and motor aspects of behavior. It is possible that these proprioceptive adaptations may be partly attributable to the new whole-body propulsive foot functions imposed by exposure to weightlessness and to the adaptation of motor behavior to the third dimension of space.

Adaptation, Physiological↗

PubMed1993

Gaze control in microgravity. 1. Saccades, pursuit, eye-head coordination.

During the long-duration spaceflight Aragatz on board the Mir station, an experiment exploring the different oculomotor subsystems involved in gaze control during orientation to a fixed target or when tracking a moving target was executed by two cosmonauts. Gaze orientation: with head fixed, the "main sequence" relationships of primary horizontal saccades were modified, peak velocity was higher and saccade duration was shorter in flight than on earth, latency was decreased and saccade accuracy was better in flight. With head free, gaze orientation toward the target was achieved by coordinated eye and head movements, their timing was maintained in the horizontal plane; when gaze was stabilized on the target, there was a trend of a larger eye than head contribution not seen in preflight tests. Pursuit: Horizontal pursuit at 0.25 and 0.5 Hz frequency remained smooth with a 0.98 gain and minor phase lag, on earth and in flight. In the vertical plane, the eye did not track the target with a pure smooth pursuit eye movement, but the saccadic system contributed to gaze control. Upward tracking was mainly achieved with a succession of saccades, whereas downward tracking was due to combined smooth pursuit and catch-up saccades. This asymmetry was maintained during flight in head fixed and head free situations. On earth, head peak velocity was maximal upward, and in flight it was maximal downward.

Electrooculography↗

PubMed1993

Gaze control in microgravity. 2. Sequences of saccades toward memorized visual targets.

The reproduction, in complete darkness, of sequences of 5 horizontal saccades towards previously presented visual targets has been investigated in human subjects on the ground (control subjects) and one cosmonaut in microgravity. The incidence of corrective saccades during the execution of the memory-guided saccades in darkness has been examined. It was quite large for the control subjects (more than half of all saccades), and increased during the flight, while the corrective visually guided saccades incidence decreased. Direction errors occurred in about the third of all sequences on the ground, and this parameter also increased in microgravity. Memory-guided sequences were mostly hypermetric. Whereas the absolute error continuously increased with the target rank, it was not the case with the amplitude ratio, which presented a peak at the third rank, that is, at the middle of the sequence. The accuracy of the reproduction of the sequences did depend on the sequence pattern as much as on the subject. Some learning was observed in repeated reproduction of the same pattern. Although the average error did not change in microgravity, the linear regression coefficient between the visually guided and memory-guided saccades decreased.

Adult↗

PubMed1991

Eye-head coupling in humans. II. Phasic components.

A tonic coupling between the horizontal component of eye position and dorsal neck muscle activity has been demonstrated in animals and humans. In addition, a transient saccade related coupling has been found in animals. In order to investigate such a phasic component of the eye-head synergy in humans, we have recorded the activity of isolated motor units in the splenius muscle during large horizontal eye movements in head fixed subjects. Eye movement recording was achieved by conventional binocular electro-oculography and the activity of the right splenius muscle was recorded with Bronks coaxial electrodes inserted manually at the C4-C5 intervertebral level. We found two main types of motor unit discharge patterns in the splenius (SPMU), the first type (type A, 14 SPMUs) shows a phasic modulation of firing rate during saccades with a triphasic profile composed of a pre-saccadic suppression, a per-saccadic burst and a post saccadic tonic discharge proportional to eye position. The second type (type B, 6 SPMUs) exhibits little, if any, modulation of firing rate with either fixation or saccades. These results suggest that eye-head coupling is present not only during the fixation period but also during saccades and that a phasic activity or suppression related to saccadic eye velocity is present in dorsal neck muscle EMG.

Adult↗

PubMed1988

Eye-head coupling in humans. I. Simultaneous recording of isolated motor units in dorsal neck muscles and horizontal eye movements.

A tonic coupling between the horizontal component of eye position and dorsal neck muscle activity has been demonstrated in the cat and monkey. In order to demonstrate this synergy in humans and study its characteristics, we have measured the relation between the firing rate of individual motor unit of the splenius muscle and voluntary horizontal shifts of gaze using 5 degrees steps, in head-fixed subjects. Eye movement recording was achieved by conventional binocular electro-oculography and the activity of the right splenius muscle was recorded with Bronks coaxial bipolar electrodes inserted manually at the C4-C5 intervertebral level. The activity of 51 motor units in 10 subjects has been recorded. For all subjects, motor units firing rate increased when the gaze shifted to the ipsilateral side, and both increase in firing rate and recruitment were observed. These results demonstrate that the tonic eye head synergy is also present in man.

Action Potentials↗

PubMed1987

Motor activity and visually induced postural reactions during two-g and zero-g phases of parabolic flight.

Maintenance of an upright posture was measured in human subjects during increased and decreased gravitoinertial force phases of parabolic flight. Upright posture was maintained by tonic activity of the ankle joint extensor muscle (soleus) during the one-g or two-g phases. During the zero-g phase the same posture was maintained primarily by activity of the flexor muscle (tibialis). Downward and upward optokinetic stimulation induced strong postural reactions directed forwards and backwards, respectively. These reactions were accompanied by changes of motor activity of the flexor muscle. This suggests a rapid redistribution of motor programs between extensor and flexor muscles with an increase in visual input influence, and confirms results obtained during space flight.

Gravitation↗