About this Research Topic

Background

Following the success of the Research Topic Vestibular Contributions to Health and Disease, which won the 2018 Frontiers Spotlight Award, we are pleased to launch a Volume II.

A primary function of the vestibular system is to maintain movement in three-dimensional space and balance. The vestibular system also serves to monitor the function of the cardiovascular, respiratory and autonomic systems.

The necessity to establish fundamental body systems that maintain balance, muscular coordination, orientation in space, heart rate, digestion and evacuation, among other things required the early evolution of these systems. They have been maintained close to their original state in almost all vertebrates, including humans. They developed well before the evolution of consciousness, therefore they occupy a unique portion of the brain that operates well out of conscious control. As a result, when these systems stop functioning normally, the results can be immensely disturbing and very difficult for clinicians to treat.

Volume II of this Research Topic includes research discussed at the conference, Vestibular Contributions to Health and Disease, held at the Icahn School of Medicine on October 25th and 26th 2019 and generously funded by the Frontiers Spotlight Award. This collection of research aims to provide information about some of the many facets of the vestibular system that provide input for the successful operation of the numerous body systems involved. An earlier conference led to the previous e-volume published in 2018, Vestibular Contributions to Health and Disease.

Topics for this volume include the fundamental basis of otolith function, vestibular findings in the absence of gravity, and the diagnosis and treatment of peripheral and central vestibular disorders. This also covers new understandings of Menière’s disease or cerebellar dizziness. Furthermore, studies of vestibulo-sympathetic activation and the effects of vestibular stimulation on muscle sympathetic nerve activity and on galvanic vestibular stimulation will be included.

Importantly, Mal de Debarquement Syndrome will soon be recognized as a treatable medical illness and we aim to document this here. Also, we welcome studies of vestibulo-cerebral function and the underlying basis for damage or disease of the vestibular hair cells. In addition, relevant and important papers on human balance will be considered with reference to difficulty in maintaining orientation to gravity in roll, which is also the underlying basis of motion sickness and the Mal de Debarquement Syndrome. Finally, we will cover other aspects of vestibulo-cerebellar disease.

Therefore, the experimental and clinical data that will be of relevance to neurologists, neuro-ophthalmologists, neuro-otologists, otolaryngologists, cardiologists and general practitioners will make this collection a highly useful clinical resource.

Through the Spotlight Award, Frontiers is proud to have funded the Vestibular Contributions to Health and Disease conference. The resulting e-volume will be comprised of papers based on the talks given at the conference as well as by other closely related papers within the same Research Topic. We welcome the submission of both original research papers and reviews.

Prof. Strupp has received speaker’s honoraria from Abbott, Actelion, Auris Medical, Biogen, Eisai, Grünenthal, GSK, Henning Pharma, Interacoustics, Merck, MSD, Otometrics, Pierre-Fabre, TEVA, UCB. He is a shareholder of IntraBio. He acts as a consultant for Abbott, Actelion, AurisMedical, Heel, IntraBio and Sensorion.

Keywords: vestibular, autonomic, motion sickness, Mal de Debarquement Syndrome, spatial orientation, vestibulo-cerebellar, balance

Important note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.

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