Submitted on April 20, 2009
Revised on May 8, 2009
Accepted on May 12, 2009
Impaired perception of gravity leads to altered head direction signals: what can we learn from vestibular-deficient mice?
Mathieu Beraneck1* and Francois M Lambert1
1 Universite Paris Descartes ; CNRS
* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: mathieu.beraneck{at}parisdescartes.fr.
Many mutant mouse strains display pathological behaviors, such as head tilts, head bobbing, or circling and waltzing, strongly suggesting that their vestibular system is impaired. Recently, Yoder and Taube (2009) studied head direction signals in tilted mutant mice, which have an impaired gravitation-sensitivity in the vestibular periphery. Here we summarize their findings and discuss a caveat related to the general use of mutant mouse strains in systems physiology.
