Modeling Vestibular Compensation: Neural Plasticity Upon Thalamic Lesion.

The present study in rats was conducted to identify brain regions affected by the interruption of vestibular transmission and to explore selected aspects of their functional connections. We analyzed, by positron emission tomography (PET), the regional cerebral glucose metabolism (rCGM) of cortical, and subcortical cerebral regions processing vestibular signals after an experimental lesion of the left laterodorsal thalamic nucleus, a relay station for vestibular input en route to the cortical circuitry. PET scans upon galvanic vestibular stimulation (GVS) were conducted in each animal prior to lesion and at post-lesion days (PLD) 1, 3, 7, and 20, and voxel-wise statistical analysis of rCGM at each PLD compared to pre-lesion status were performed.