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Cited by 57Motor Control and AdaptationVisual perception and processing mechanismsVestibular and auditory disorders

Anatomy of the Oculomotor System

Büttner-Ennever, Jean A.·2007·Developments in Ophthalmology
DOI 10.1159/000100345
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Abstract

The sensory and motor control of eye muscles are considered in this chapter. Eye muscles differ from skeletal muscles in several ways. One is the absence of muscle spindles and Golgi tendon organs in the eye muscles of some species, and their poor development in others. Second, eye muscles have an inner 'global layer', and the outer 'orbital layer', each containing different types of muscle fiber. Third, eye muscles contain not only twitch muscle fibers with a single endplate zone (SIFs), but also nontwitch muscle fibers with multiple endplate zones (MIFs), which are otherwise absent from mammalian muscles. There are cuffs of nerve terminals, called palisade endings, around the myotendinous junctions of global layer MIFs. Palisade endings are unique to eye muscles, and have been found in all mammalian species investigated up to now. The function of palisade endings is uncertain, but it is possible that they are 'sensory receptors'. Motoneurons innervating the eye muscles lie in the oculomotor, trochlear and abducens motor nuclei, and are contacted by several relatively independent premotor networks, which generate different types of eye movements such as saccades, vestibulo-ocular reflexes, optokinetic responses, smooth pursuit convergence or gaze-holding. In each motor nucleus, the motoneurons can be divided into two distinct sets: the first set innervating SIF muscle fibers and receiving inputs from all oculomotor premotor networks, and the second set innervating the MIFs and receiving premotor afferents from the gaze holding, convergence or smooth pursuit premotor networks, but not from the saccadic and vestibulo-oculomotor networks. We suggest that the SIF motoneurons and muscles are more suited to driving eye movements, and the MIF motoneurons and muscles to setting the tonic tension in eye muscles. Furthermore the 'palisade ending-MIF unit' may be part of a sensory feedback system in eye muscles, which should be considered in association with the causes and treatment of strabismus.

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  • Oxytocin receptors are expressed in areas involved in saccadic eye movements, including the superficial grey layer of the superior colliculus, deeper layers, the oculomotor nucleus, and the nucleus prepositus.

    “In areas involved in saccadic eye movements in response to visual stimuli, OXTR is expressed in the superficial grey layer of the SC (Fig. 2), as well as deeper layers, and in the oculomotor nucleus (III) and the nucleus prepositus, which are two brainstem motor nuclei that control the muscles of the eye and participate in the horizontal gaze stabilisation system, respectively (41-43).”

    From Comparative Perspectives on Oxytocin and Vasopressin Receptor Research in Rodents and Primates: Translational Implications (2016) · cites this paper as [41]

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Authors
Büttner-Ennever, J. A.
Venue
Developments in Ophthalmology
Publisher
KARGER
Published
2007
Volume
40
Pages
1-14
DOI
10.1159/000100345
OpenAlex
W1482130854
Cited by
57
References
60
Citations by year
2026: 2 · 2025: 2 · 2024: 5 · 2023: 2 · 2022: 4 · 2021: 3 · 2020: 3 · 2019: 2 · 2017: 4 · 2016: 1 · 2015: 5 · 2014: 2 · 2013: 3 · 2012: 5
FWCI
5.44
Type
book chapter
Language
en
Open access
closed
Locations
  • KARGER eBooks (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
Topics
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Motor Control and Adaptation
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Visual perception and processing mechanisms
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Neurology › Vestibular and auditory disorders
Keywords
oculomotor system, eye muscles, motor neurons, oculomotor nucleus, trochlear nucleus, abducens nucleus, saccades, vestibulo-ocular reflex, optokinetic response, smooth pursuit eye movements, gaze holding, strabismus, muscle fiber type, myotendinous junction
MeSH terms
Animals, Eye Movements, Humans, Oculomotor Muscles, Optic Nerve, Orbit

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