[Effects of acetyl-DL-leucine on the recovery of the locomotor equilibrium and spontaneous discharge of lateral vestibular nucleus neurons in unilateral vestibular neurectomized cats].

The effects of acetyl-DL-leucine (AL) treatment (28 mg/kg.day, p.o.) on the vestibular compensation were studied over period of 6 weeks in unilateral vestibular neurectomized cats. This investigation was performed by measuring the recovery time of locomotor equilibrium in the rotating beam test and recording the unitary extracellular activity of single neurons of lateral vestibular nucleus (LVN) in totally awake cats. The results showed that AL treatment strongly accelerated the recovery of locomotor equilibrium and significantly inhibited the recovery of resting spontaneous firing rate within the deafferented LVN neurons (n = 506) but improved the sensitivity and recovery of relative amount and proportion of neurons (n = 454) in response to head roll tilts in frontal plane. The neurophysiological mechanisms of AL role in the vestibular compensation were discussed.