Versino Maurizio, Ranza Laura, Colnaghi Silvia, Alloni Roberto, Callieco Roberto, Romani Alfredo, Bergamaschi Roberto, Pichiecchio Anna, Bastianello Stefano, Cosi Vittorio
Fondazione Istituto Neurologico C.Mondino, IRCCS and Dipartimento Scienze Neurologiche Università di Pavia, Pavia, Italy.
J Vestib Res. 2007;17(1):39-46.
Both sound (s-) and galvanic (g-) vestibular-evoked myogenic potential (VEMP) enable us to study the saccular pathways. However, the VEMP can be abnormal for non-vestibular factors, such as insufficient activation of the sterno-cleido-mastoid (SCM) muscle or a lesion that involves the accessory nucleus and/or nerve or the SCM muscle. These drawbacks do not affect another technique that evaluates the saccular function: the N3 potential. We recorded both the s- and the g-VEMP and the N3 potential in a group of 31 healthy subjects to establish a reference range. The N3 potential and the s-VEMP were recordable bilaterally from all the subjects, whereas the g-VEMP was undetectable uni- or bilaterally in 7 subjects. The latency and amplitude values of the s-VEMP did not differ from those of the g-VEMP. For all three techniques, the latency and amplitude values from the right and from the left recording and/or stimulation side were the same. We suggest using normative latency and amplitude values based on the mean and ratio of the right- and left-side values. The s-VEMP, the N3 potential and the auditory evoked response (ABR) were compared in 15 subjects suffering from multiple sclerosis. The three techniques detected a similar number of abnormalities, but these abnormalities were not correlated. This suggests that these different techniques should be regarded as complementary in evaluating saccular function.
听觉（s-）和电刺激（g-）前庭诱发肌源性电位（VEMP）都能让我们研究球囊通路。然而，VEMP可能因非前庭因素而异常，比如胸锁乳突肌（SCM）激活不足，或涉及副神经核和/或神经或SCM肌肉的病变。这些缺点并不影响另一种评估球囊功能的技术：N3电位。我们在31名健康受试者中记录了s-VEMP、g-VEMP和N3电位，以建立参考范围。所有受试者双侧均可记录到N3电位和s-VEMP，而7名受试者单侧或双侧未检测到g-VEMP。s-VEMP的潜伏期和幅值与g-VEMP的潜伏期和幅值无差异。对于所有这三种技术，右侧和左侧记录和/或刺激侧的潜伏期和幅值相同。我们建议根据左右侧值的均值和比值使用标准化的潜伏期和幅值。在15名患有多发性硬化症的受试者中比较了s-VEMP、N3电位和听觉诱发电位（ABR）。这三种技术检测到的异常数量相似，但这些异常并不相关。这表明在评估球囊功能时，这些不同的技术应被视为互补的。
