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Left hemispheric dominance of vestibular processing indicates lateralization of cortical functions in rats

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Abstract

Lateralization of cortical functions such as speech dominance, handedness and processing of vestibular information are present not only in humans but also in ontogenetic older species, e.g. rats. In human functional imaging studies, the processing of vestibular information was found to be correlated with the hemispherical dominance as determined by the handedness. It is located mainly within the right hemisphere in right handers and within the left hemisphere in left handers. Since dominance of vestibular processing is unknown in animals, our aim was to study the lateralization of cortical processing in a functional imaging study applying small-animal positron emission tomography (microPET) and galvanic vestibular stimulation in an in vivo rat model. The cortical and subcortical network processing vestibular information could be demonstrated and correlated with data from other animal studies. By calculating a lateralization index as well as flipped region of interest analyses, we found that the vestibular processing in rats follows a strong left hemispheric dominance independent from the “handedness” of the animals. These findings support the idea of an early hemispheric specialization of vestibular cortical functions in ontogenetic older species.

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Acknowledgments

The authors thank Mrs. Benson and Mrs. Ogston for critically reading and native speaking editing the manuscript. This study was supported by the ‘Stiftung Rheinland-Pfalz für Innovation’ (to M.D.), MAIFOR (to C.B.), Röttger-Stiftung (to S.R.) and Hoffmann-Klose-Stiftung (to S.R.). The study was financially supported by four pure scientific grants: the ‘Stiftung Rheinland-Pfalz for Innovation’, MAIFOR, Röttger-Stiftung and Hoffmann-Klose-Stiftung. None of the sponsors had any influence in the study design, the collection, analysis and interpretation of data, the writing of the manuscript and in the decision to submit the article for publication.

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None of the authors has any conflict of interest to declare.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Neurology, Vestibular Research Unit, Philipps-University Marburg, Baldingerstrasse, 35043, Marburg, Germany

    Christoph Best

  2. Department of Neurology, University Medical Center, Johannes Gutenberg-University, Langenbeckstrasse 1, Mainz, Germany

    Christoph Best

  3. Institute of Microanatomy and Neurobiology, University Medical Center, Johannes Gutenberg-University, Langenbeckstrasse 1, Mainz, Germany

    Elena Lange & Stefan Reuss

  4. Department of Nuclear Medicine, University Medical Center, Johannes Gutenberg-University, Langenbeckstrasse 1, Mainz, Germany

    Hans-Georg Buchholz, Mathias Schreckenberger & Stefan Reuss

  5. Department of Neurology, Ludwig-Maximilians-University, Marchioninistrasse 15, Munich, Germany

    Marianne Dieterich

  6. German Center for Vertigo and Balance Disorders, IFBLMU, Ludwig-Maximilians-University, Marchioninistrasse 15, Munich, Germany

    Marianne Dieterich

  7. Munich Cluster for Systems Neurology (SyNergy), Ludwig-Maximilians-University, Marchioninistrasse 15, Munich, Germany

    Marianne Dieterich

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  1. Christoph Best
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  2. Elena Lange
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  3. Hans-Georg Buchholz
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Correspondence to Christoph Best.

Additional information

C. Best and E. Lange contributed equally.

S. Reuss and M. Dieterich joint senior authors.

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Best, C., Lange, E., Buchholz, HG. et al. Left hemispheric dominance of vestibular processing indicates lateralization of cortical functions in rats. Brain Struct Funct 219, 2141–2158 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00429-013-0628-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00429-013-0628-1

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