Sondag H N, de Jong H A, van Marle J, Oosterveld W J
Vestibular Department, Academic Medical Center, University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
Acta Otolaryngol. 1998 Jan;118(1):86-9. doi: 10.1080/00016489850155189.
For a period of 10 months, the perceptive-motor skills of golden hamsters were tested as part of an experiment to investigate vestibular controlled behaviour. We found that four out of 40 hamsters had more difficulties with swimming and equilibrium maintenance than the rest of the group. These disturbances either were apparent during the first months of testing or developed at a later period. In three hamsters the disturbances persisted over time while in one hamster performance in perceptive-motor skills increased. Histological examination with scanning electron microscopy revealed otoconial abnormalities in the saccule and/or the utricle. The otoconia were either malformed or replaced by spherulites. We conclude that the observed behavioural disturbances were caused by a defective peripheral vestibular organ. The results show similarities with data from pathology in other animals as well as in the human inner ear.
在为期10个月的时间里，作为一项研究前庭控制行为实验的一部分，对金黄地鼠的感知运动技能进行了测试。我们发现，40只仓鼠中有4只在游泳和平衡维持方面比组内其他仓鼠有更多困难。这些障碍要么在测试的最初几个月就很明显，要么在后期出现。在3只仓鼠中，这些障碍随着时间持续存在，而在1只仓鼠中，其感知运动技能表现有所提高。扫描电子显微镜组织学检查显示球囊和/或椭圆囊存在耳石异常。耳石要么畸形，要么被球状体取代。我们得出结论，观察到的行为障碍是由外周前庭器官缺陷引起的。结果显示与其他动物以及人类内耳病理学数据有相似之处。
