Doughty Michael J, Naase Taher, Button Norman F
Department of Vision Sciences, Glasgow-Caledonian University, Glasgow, Scotland.
Graefes Arch Clin Exp Ophthalmol. 2009 Jul;247(7):939-46. doi: 10.1007/s00417-008-1028-8. Epub 2009 Jan 20.
A number of recent studies have reported high spontaneous eyeblink rate (SEBR) values in apparently normal subjects, but the reasons for this are unclear.
An assessment was made of SEBR, in 60 educated adult male subjects aged between 22 and 40 years, over a period of 5 min in silence. Half of the subjects were classified as having frequent eyeblink activity. All subjects also had their corneal and conjunctival touch (tactile) sensitivity assessed with a Cochet-Bonnet aesthesiometer immediately after the video recording of SEBR.
SEBR ranged from 4.6 to 43.5 (mean 18.6) eyeblinks/min. The SEBR was 26.8 +/- 6.0 eyeblinks/min for those with frequent eyeblink activity as compared to just 10.3 +/- 3.5 eyeblinks/min for those with normal eyeblink activity (p < 0.001). There was no difference in palpebral aperture or exposed ocular surface area between the two groups. The average central corneal sensitivity was only marginally different between the two groups (56.8 +/- 2.8 mm vs 58.5 +/- 2.3 mm) but the conjunctival threshold sensitivity was substantially different (at 23.8 +/- 4.3 mm vs 28.5 +/- 3.5 mm; p < 0.001). SEBR was inversely correlated with the conjunctival sensitivity in those with frequent eyeblink activity (p < 0.001).
Our study provides a clue as to the mechanism of inhibition of spontaneous eyeblink activity, namely that a certain level of ocular surface (conjunctival) sensitivity is required to keep SEBR low.
近期多项研究报告称，在看似正常的受试者中，自发性眨眼率（SEBR）值较高，但原因尚不清楚。
对60名年龄在22至40岁之间、受过教育的成年男性受试者进行了SEBR评估，在安静状态下持续5分钟。一半受试者被归类为眨眼活动频繁。在SEBR视频记录后，立即使用科谢-博内眼压计对所有受试者的角膜和结膜触觉敏感性进行评估。
SEBR范围为每分钟4.6至43.5次眨眼（平均18.6次）。眨眼活动频繁者的SEBR为每分钟26.8±6.0次眨眼，而眨眼活动正常者仅为每分钟10.3±3.5次眨眼（p<0.001）。两组之间睑裂孔径或暴露的眼表面积没有差异。两组之间平均中央角膜敏感性仅有微小差异（56.8±2.8毫米对58.5±2.3毫米），但结膜阈值敏感性有显著差异（分别为23.8±4.3毫米对28.5±3.5毫米；p<0.001）。在眨眼活动频繁者中，SEBR与结膜敏感性呈负相关（p<0.001）。
我们的研究为自发性眨眼活动的抑制机制提供了线索，即需要一定水平的眼表（结膜）敏感性来保持低SEBR。
