Sensory systems and integration laboratory, Sydney Medical School, University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, 2006, Australia.
Syst Rev. 2020 Jun 17;9(1):145. doi: 10.1186/s13643-020-01399-2.
Vestibular compensation is a homeostatic process that occurs in the central nervous system in response to peripheral vestibular dysfunction. Experimental studies in rodent models have suggested that unilateral peripheral vestibular lesions are correlated with an increase in the intrinsic excitability of central vestibular neurons. This process may be dependent on the intrinsic properties of the neurons themselves. We aimed to conduct a systematic review of the literature to survey the evidence for changes in intrinsic plasticity observed during the acute phase of vestibular compensation.
We systematically reviewed the literature regarding the electrophysiological effect of experimentally induced unilateral vestibular deafferentation (UVD) on the intrinsic membrane properties of medial vestibular nucleus neurons in animal models. We developed tools to assess the methodological quality (precision, validity and bias) of studies that met pre-determined inclusion and exclusion criteria. We extracted numerical data and performed a meta-analysis of specific quantitative data pooled from these studies.
We identified 17 studies that satisfied the inclusion criteria. There is moderate quality evidence to suggest a statistically significant increase in the intrinsic excitability of medial vestibular nucleus neurons following unilateral vestibular deafferentation. Specifically, the spontaneous discharge rate increases by 4 spikes/s on average and the sensitivity to current stimuli increases.
Using this novel approach, we demonstrate that the methodology of systematic review and meta-analysis is a useful tool in the summation of data across experimental animal studies with similar aims.
前庭代偿是一种发生在中枢神经系统中的内稳态过程，是对周围前庭功能障碍的反应。啮齿动物模型的实验研究表明，单侧周围前庭病变与中枢前庭神经元固有兴奋性的增加有关。这个过程可能依赖于神经元本身的内在特性。我们旨在对文献进行系统回顾，以调查在前庭代偿的急性阶段观察到的固有可塑性变化的证据。
我们系统地回顾了关于实验性单侧前庭去传入（UVD）对动物模型中前庭神经核中间神经元固有膜特性的电生理影响的文献。我们开发了工具来评估符合预定纳入和排除标准的研究的方法学质量（精度、有效性和偏差）。我们提取了数值数据，并对这些研究中汇总的特定定量数据进行了荟萃分析。
我们确定了 17 项符合纳入标准的研究。有中等质量的证据表明，单侧前庭去传入后中间前庭核神经元的固有兴奋性有统计学意义的增加。具体来说，自发放电率平均增加 4 个/秒，对电流刺激的敏感性增加。
使用这种新方法，我们证明了系统评价和荟萃分析的方法是汇总具有相似目的实验动物研究数据的有用工具。
