Search PubMed⌕ Search

Biomedical subjects

J L Eichhorn

Publications and source records attributed to J L Eichhorn.

15 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2001

Modal analysis of the diaphragm of the semicircular canal.

The aim of this paper is to determine the domain of validity of calculated quasi-static deformations of the cupula and of ciliar deflections on the crista ampullaris. Several three-dimensional models of the isolated ampullar diaphragm of the human semicircular canal and of that of the frog are studied theoretically by modal analysis. The four first modes of vibration are determined for each structure. Numerical simulations prove that for the first mode of vibration, the cupular deformation has the same shape as that obtained by applying a static pressure difference across the ampullar diaphragm. We studied also the effect of the mechanical properties (Young's modulus and Poisson's coefficient) of the components of the ampullar diaphragm on the vibration modes and their frequencies. The condition, which must be satisfied by the cupular internal viscosity, to have resonance near the natural frequency of the ampullar diaphragm is determined.

Animals↗
PubMed1999

[From vestibular nystagmus to the transfer function of the vestibulo-ocular reflex].

A new method for the separation of the two phases of the vestibular nystagmus (slow eye velocity and fast eye velocity) is presented. The aim is to calculate the transfer coefficients of the human vestibulo-ocular reflex (VOR). With a combination of thresholds on the eye velocity and the eye acceleration signals, the different phases of fast eye velocity in the vestibular nystagmus can be located with a good accuracy. So this phases which are not of vestibular origin can be eliminated. The dependence of the transfer function and of the coherence function from the values of the thresholds is studied. This study shows that our method is very robust and that the consequence of the systematic errors occurring with the preceding methods, we have used, is a bad estimation of the gain of the VOR. The values of the coherence function we obtained show that the VOR has a linear behaviour within the range of frequencies we studied (0.01-0.5 Hz).

Electronystagmography↗
PubMed1998

Pseudorandom rotational stimuli of the vestibulo-ocular reflex in humans: normal values of the transfer function.

Pseudorandom binary rotatory stimulation is used to study the vestibulo-ocular reflex (VeOR) frequency response (from 0.01 to 0.64 Hz). Fifty-two normal subjects volunteered for this test. The transfer function's gain and phase, and the corresponding coherence function between slow phase eye velocity and head velocity were computed. According to the linearity hypothesis, the results match the sinusoidal stimulation studies. In both cases, the variability of the gain was higher than that of the phase shift. Identification of some parameters of the VeOR's mathematical model were performed, using the experimental results.

Adult↗
PubMed1996

[Crista ampullaris mechanics and possibilities of regulation of the semi-circular canal].

A software using a finite element method is used to study the deformation of a bidimensional model of the human cupular diaphragm and the distribution of angular shearing of the hairs of the sensory cells located on the crista ampularis. This study shows that the hairs on the top of the crista are more sensitive to the pressure difference across the cupula due to angular acceleration of the head and those located on the sides of the crista are sensitive to the variation of the inflation pressure of the ampulla. This spatial discrimination of sensibility of the hair cells to the two types of mechanical solicitations leads us to consider the SCC as regulated sensor.

Biomechanical Phenomena↗
PubMed1993

[A new approach to the mechanism of vestibular response to caloric stimulation].

Barany's classical hydrodynamic theory has been called into question by the zero-gravity Spacelab experiments, and several new hypotheses are put forth to explain the vestibular response to caloric stimulation. We have developed a mathematic model based on the analysis of an experimental model of the semicircular canal, incorporating observations done with zero-gravity and with gravity. Two purely mechanical phenomena are involved: one one hand, the modification of the hydrostatic pressure on both sides of the cupula due to a temperature variation if the semicircular canal is not in the horizontal plane in normal gravity conditions; on the other hand, local changes in endolymph pressure and volume due to the mechanical and osmotic properties of the canal, which are independent from gravity and from the position of the canal. These mechanical processes, though not exclusive, are predominant and therefore sufficient to explain the caloric response of the vestibulum in all cases.

Caloric Tests↗
PubMed1992

Mechanics of the cupula: effects of its thickness.

Mechanical aspects of the ampullar diaphragm, that is the crista ampullaris and the cupula, related to its thickness, are studied by a numerical method. Numerical methods are able to go beyond the limits of analytical approaches and are the only methods able to take into account this thickness. A finite elements method is applied to the median plane slice of the ampullar diaphragm. One assumes that the cupula sticks firmly without slipping, to the ampullar wall and to the crista ampullaris. The computation takes into account the pressures on the liquid interfaces and the deformations of the ampulla. So the volume swept over by the cupula during quasi-static deformations can be evaluated and the global elasticity coefficient of the human cupula can be calculated. The related value of the long time constant of the semicircular canal is close to the value obtained when measuring, in vivo, the activity on the vestibular nerve in animals. The thick cupula model clearly shows two different spatial distributions of strain on the hairs of the sensory cells, leading to a discrimination between the vestibular inflating pressure and the transcupular pressure difference. This result matches recent neurophysiological data and brings a new insight in the mechanics of the vestibular angular accelerometer and its regulation.

Animals↗
PubMed1991

Modelling the action of caloric stimulation of the vestibule. II. The mechanical model of the semi-circular canal considered as an inflatable structure.

In order to explain the mechanical effects that arise when a semi-circular canal is thermally stimulated in the horizontal position (i.e. in the absence of gravity effects) a physical model was used. The duct (corresponding to the canal) is deformable, the pressure transducer (corresponding to the ampulla) is not deformable. There is no thermal similarity but a dynamical similarity has been respected, so the mechanical phenomena occurring in the semi-circular canal and in the model are identical. The time scale is close to one. The physical model showed that the relative volume variations (fluid/duct) due to caloric stimulation lead to a pressure variation measured by the pressure transducer at the place of the ampulla and the cupula. The time history and the value of this pressure depend on the mechanical and thermal properties of the duct and the fluid. The qualitative responses of the physical model and of the vestibulo-ocular reflex after caloric stimulation were coherent. A numerical model simulating the same mechanisms yielded a quantitative estimation of the transcupular pressure arising in a horizontal semi-circular canal (i.e. without gravity dependent effects) during caloric stimulation. The physical model and the numerical simulation take no account of the inflating pressure variation.

Caloric Tests↗
PubMed1991

Modelling the action of caloric stimulation of vestibule. III. Caloric nystagmus induced by osmotic pressure variation.

The properties of the membranous wall of the semi-circular canal and of the labyrinthine fluids give as a result the inflating pressure of this inflatable structure. The difference of osmotic pressure between perilymph and endolymph, which is involved in this problem, depends on temperature. Therefore, a caloric stimulation leads to a change in the inflating pressure. A numerical model, similar to the model used to study the effects of relative volume variations, gives a quantitative estimation of the transcupular pressure arising in a horizontal semi-circular canal (i.e. without gravity dependent effects) during a caloric stimulation, according to the inflating pressure change. As a consequence, it appears that rotational and caloric stimulations are not quite similar. The caloric stimulation leads not only to a transcupular pressure difference but also to a change in inflating pressure. As a result of the change in inflating pressure, the stiffness of the cupula varies. This modifies the gain and the dynamics of the vestibulo-ocular reflex, and may explain the asymmetry between hot and cold stimulations.

Caloric Tests↗
PubMed1991

Modelling the action of caloric stimulation of the vestibule. IV. The global mechanical model.

Caloric stimulation acts on the bio-accelerometer (the semi-circular canal), as on engineered ones, through second order type multiple pathways. Three temperature induced peripheral actions have been described in our previous reports. The hydrostatic mechanism induces in the endolymph a gravity dependent transcupular stationary pressure difference. The differential expansion of the membranous duct and its content creates a local volume variation, while the modification of the transmembranous exchanges causes a local pressure variation. These two last mechanisms are gravity independent. They depend on parameters of the membrane, and induce a transcupular transient pressure difference and a stationary variation of the inflating pressure. It seems reasonable to assume the independency of these three mechanisms. If this assumption is true, than the global effect of caloric stimulation should be the sum of the effects of the three partial mechanisms. It is shown here that, for the physical model, this assumption holds. For humans, in the more general frame of the caloric vestibulo-ocular reflex experiments reported in the first paper, qualitatively and quantitatively this assumption holds, too. The model predicts a percentage of gravidity dependent effects of about 75%. It is shown that the reported human experiments lead to compatible estimates of this percentage. For humans in the earth gravity field, enduring the caloric stimulation it is not necessary to include neither otolithic interactions, nor significant modifications of the mecano-neural transduction, in the limits of precision of today's experimentation.

Caloric Tests↗
PubMed1991

[Vestibular test in Menière's disease].

When it is well known that the electronystagmographic examination cannot diagnose the Meniere's disease, it is very useful to ensure that no other pathology is involved and for the follow up of the patients. The vestibulo-oculogram, on the other hand, suggests the presence of hydrops, according to the mechanical model.

Electronystagmography↗
PubMed1991

[Modeling of the semi-circular canal, application to labyrinthine hydrops].

The angular accelerometer of vertebrates, the semi circular canal, is a pressure gage. The transformation, acceleration to pressure, is due to the inertia of the endolymph. In the 0 to 1 Hz frequency interval, the endolymph-cupula system can be described by a second order, localised parameter model with two real time constants. This mechanical model explains the occurr]nces of the vestibular-ocular reflex during rotatory stimulations. However, some features of the response to caloric stimulations cannot be explained from this unique point of view. To correspond to these features, the SCC has to be considered as an inflatable structure, sensitive to weak pressure variations between the endolymph and perilymph. Different parameters of the mechanical model, the internal radius of the membranous canal, the dimension of the cupula and its elasticity coefficient depend on the inflating pressure. Ménière's disease is caracterised by hydrops, i.e. an increase of the pressure in the membranous SCC. The different mechanisms related to this hydrops, in particular introducing the inflating pressure as a second input to the ampular system, associated to a new concept of the mechanoneural transduction can explain the classical vestibular symptoms of Ménière's disease. Therefore, this overall mechanical model of the SCC indicates that hydrops is the mechanical cause of Ménière's disease and the primary cause is more likely to be a defect in the regulation loop of the inflating pressure.

Biophysical Phenomena↗
PubMed1988

[Computer-assisted vestibular tests].

The labyrinth is a sensor of vibration. Therefore, multifrequency vestibular stimulation proves indispensable in obtaining a more accurate study of the VOR. We chose to use a pseudo-random binary sequence, generated on a mini computer. The angular velocity instructions are made up of eight repetitive sequences, the spectrum of energy in which is adapted to the frequency range of VOR. A process eliminating the quick phases, the blinking and other artefacts is applied to the nystagmic response, in order to observe only the slow phase velocity. The velocity of eye and chair are compared and the transfer function of VOR is performed. Gain, phase, coherence function and predominance of the mean slow phase velocity between left and right responses are the four indices which define VOR function. The multifrequency rotatory test is interesting for topographic diagnosis, and makes out three diagnostic ranges: a mechanical peripheral, a neurosensory peripheral and a central one. Two practical measures could help the propagation of this method: a simpler vestibular stimulation in order to suppress the rotatory chair, a simplified method of data processing using a personal computer.

Diagnosis, Computer-Assisted↗
PubMed1982

Laser doppler anemometry on individual red blood cells.

In order to take measurements of electrical and mechanical characteristics on red blood cells in motion in a hydrodynamic or electric field, a micro laser doppler anemometry apparatus was developed. Because of the small dimensions of the scattering volume of this apparatus, measurements can be taken on individual cells. Two fields of measurement were studied: that of red blood cells in free motion in a hydrodynamic field (speeds of a few mm/s), an that of very low speeds (a few microns/s) the cells moving in a hydrodynamic or an electric field. We can thus obtain simultaneously for each red blood cell: the apparent dimension, the speed, the electrical charge. This methodology gives us multiparametric statistics on individual characteristics of a population or red blood cells.

Blood Flow Velocity↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Modelling the action of caloric stimulation of the vestibule. I. The hydrostatic model.

In this first article of four the problem is displayed using experiments on humans for two kinds of gravity related positions. In each case the nystagmus depends sinusoidally on a particular orientation of the canal to the vertical. In each case, too, a dissymmetry of the response occurs. This kind of behavior confirms that the caloric stimulation induces both a gravity dependent and a gravity independent effect. A simple mechanical model gives account of the gravity dependent effect. It does not imply the otolithic system. Since the cupula adheres to the ampullar wall and to the crista, this is a hydrostatic model in contrast to Bárány's model, which is of hydrodynamic type.

Adult↗