Eye movements associated with eye closure. II. Down turning of eye ball elevation.

DC recordings of horizontal and vertical eye movements of various neurological patients were made in an attempt to specify the mechanism underlying sustained eye ball elevation associated with eye closure. Sudden or gradual down turning of vertical eye ball elevation was seen in the following groups: (1) acute stage of inner ear hypo- or afunction; (2) lateral lesions of the cerebellum; (3) acute stage of cerebellar inflammation, and (4) some cases of cerebral lesions. The following pathway seems to be the simplest which would account for these findings: anterior semicircular canal leads to superior vestibular nucleus leads to brachium conjunctivum leads to oculomotor nucleus leads to superior rectus muscle (ipsilateral) and inferior oblique muscle (contralateral).