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Effects of diazepam on the latency of saccades for luminance and binocular disparity defined stimuli

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Abstract

Saccadic latency is composed of separate sensory and motor processing delays. Therefore, any alteration in the sensory processing should effect the saccadic latency. Because the highest density of benzodiazepine (Bz) binding sites is located in cerebral cortex, sensory processing of stimuli in this cortical area is expected to be substantially effected by administration of Bzs. It is well known that sensory processing of binocular disparity occurs in the cerebral cortical areas and therefore the latency of saccades to stimuli defined by binocular disparity should be substantially affected by Bz intake. In this study, we tested this prediction by comparing the latency of saccadic eye movements for binocular disparity defined stimuli (stereo stimuli) with those for luminance contrast defined stimuli (luminance stimuli), after diazepam or placebo. Eye movements were mainly recorded by use of the magnetic search coil technique, and the study was performed in a randomized, double-blind way. Although diazepam prolonged the latency of saccades for stereo and luminance stimuli, the percentage increases in saccadic latency for the stereo stimuli were significantly larger than those for the luminance stimuli. Saccadic peak velocity, and saccadic amplitude, also significantly decreased after diazepam under conditions of stereo and luminance stimuli. However, there was no significant difference for either saccadic peak velocity or amplitude between the two types of target. The results suggest that the latency of saccades to binocular disparity defined random-dot stimuli could more sensitively reflect the pharmacodynamic effects of Bzs on the cerebral cortex.

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Acknowledgements

This study was partially supported by the National Basic Research Program of China (G1999054000) and by the National Natural Science Foundation of China. The authors are grateful to Dr Saumil S. Patel for valuable comments and suggestion on the manuscript, Dr Qing Yang for help with statistical analysis of data, and Lingyu Chen, Xinzhen Zhao, and Zhi Li for help with experiments.

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  1. Jianliang Tong

    Present address: College of Optometry, University of Houston, Houston, TX, 77204, USA

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratory of Neurobiology of Shanghai Institute of Physiology, Shanghai Institutes for Biological Sciences, and Laboratory of Visual Information Processing of Biophysics Institute, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 320 Yue-Yang Road, 200031, Shanghai, China

    Cunguo Wang, Jianliang Tong & Fuchuan Sun

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  1. Cunguo Wang
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  2. Jianliang Tong
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  3. Fuchuan Sun
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Correspondence to Fuchuan Sun.

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Wang, C., Tong, J. & Sun, F. Effects of diazepam on the latency of saccades for luminance and binocular disparity defined stimuli. Exp Brain Res 163, 246–251 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00221-005-2235-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00221-005-2235-8

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