Correlation between vestibular sensitization and leg muscle relaxation under weightlessness simulated by water immersion.

The experiments were designed to determine the contribution of the leg muscle relaxation to the sensitization of the vestibular function under weightlessness, The neuromuscular unit (NMU) discharges were continuously recorded with microelectrodes from the anti-gravitational soleus muscle and its antagonist, the tibialis anterior, of a man standing first upright on the level floor of a dry water tank, and then gradually being immersed in water till it reached his neck; while he was buoyed with an airtube placed under his armpit. In each of the successive states, the caloric nystagmus was evoked, analyzed and compared with the NMU discharge as well as with subjective symptoms associated with the nystagmus. The results indicate that the nystagmogenic activity had a significant correlation with the appearance of the active NMU in the soleus, and they also suggest that the reduction of ascending signals from the antigravity muscles might be one of the causes of atypical vestibular responses occuring in weightlessness.