Peripheral generators of the vestibular evoked potentials (VsEPs) in the chick.

Electrophysiological activity in response to linear acceleration stimuli was recorded from young chickens by means of subcutaneous electrodes. This investigation had 2 purposes: (1) to establish the vestibular origin of the potentials; and (2) to investigate the contribution of each vestibular labyrinth to the response. The stimuli consisted of pulses of linear acceleration delivered by a mechanical vibrator (shaker). In the first set of experiments vestibular evoked potentials (VsEPs) were recorded prior to and 24 h after bilateral cochlea removal. In the second set of experiments responses were recorded before and after unilateral or bilateral intralabyrinthine injections of tetrodotoxin (TTX). Different groups of subjects were used for each experimental condition. The general morphology of the VsEPs was maintained after bilateral cochlea removal. Absolute latency of wave P2, the most prominent component of the response, was not significantly affected by the manipulation. Unilateral intralabyrinthine TTX injections consistently prolonged the latency and reduced the amplitude of wave P2. Following binaural TTX injections we were unable to elicit responses at the acceleration levels used in this study. The results from these experiments suggest that: (1) the activity recorded in response to linear acceleration stimuli is vestibular in origin; (2) when recorded from intact animals the evoked response is composed of activity from both vestibular systems; and (3) TTX consistently blocks the activity of the vestibular portion of the VIIIth cranial nerve.