| The Effect of the REM Sleep on Peripheral
Vestibular Imbalance |
| The Effect of the REM Sleep on Peripheral
Vestibular Imbalance |
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Hyun Ah Kim; Suh Yun Hong; Jun Gyu Yang; Hyon Ah Yi; Hyung Lee |
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| Abstract |
Backgrounds and purpose: While it is known that sleep have influence on emergence of rapid
eye movement (REM); namely saccades including fast component of nystagmus; whether
spontaneous nystagmus due to vestibular imbalance presents during sleep is still unclear. The
purpose of our study was to investigate whether tonic vestibular imbalance appeared as
spontaneous nystagmus during the wakeful state could present during REM sleep.
Methods
Overnight polysomnography (PSG) was performed in 7 patients with spontaneous
nystagmus due to vestibular neuritis (VN) and 7 controls without dizziness or any nystagmus. The
numbers of horizontal saccades were counted; during 3 minutes samples of the alert state before
and after the PSG; and the first and last REM sleep.
Results
All patients with VN showed significantly more saccades (fast phases of spontaneous
nystagmus) towards the side contralateral to their vestibular lesion in the alert state before and
after the PSG compared with control group. By contrast; during REM sleep the patients with VN
showed no preponderance in saccade direction (p<0.05). Some brief nystagmoid jerks showed
during REM sleep in both patients and controls equally and also had no preponderance in direction.
Conclusions
The tonic vestibular imbalance at peripheral level observed during alert state does
not appear at the brainstem level during REM sleep. It is suggested that a de-afferentation of the
peripheral vestibular input to the REM sleep generating areas may explain an absence of
nystagmus during REM sleep in patients with VN. |
| Key Words:
Nystagmus, REM sleep, vestibular imbalance |
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