Spinal compensation for postural deficits after hemilabyrinthectomy?

Removal of the labyrinthine organs on one side results in static and dynamic disturbances. Some functional recovery occurs over time and is paralleled in frogs by an increase in the efficacy of central vestibular pathways. Here, we report concomitant increases in dorsal root evoked ventral root responses in the brachial spinal cord and compare the time courses of neural changes in the brain stem and in the spinal cord with the progress of postural recovery in frogs. From this comparison we conclude that postural deficits are compensated by a spinal substitution process on the operated side.