PURPOSE: To determine whether there is a change in the pattern of human eyeblink events under topical ocular anaesthesia. METHODS: Forty male subjects, aged between 19 and 52 years and with no significant ocular surface disease, were recruited. Their spontaneous eyeblink activity, in primary eye gaze position and in silence, was recorded for 5-min periods, before and after instillation of benoxinate 0.4% eyedrops. The surface anaesthesia was confirmed by aesthesiometry. RESULTS: The spontaneous eyeblink rate (SEBR) decreased from 9.1+/-4.0 blinks/min to an average of 5.7+/-3.3 blinks/min, with 37 subjects showing a decreased eyeblink rate under anaesthesia. Three blink patterns were observed before anaesthesia (symmetrical, J-type and I-type) and these were essentially unchanged under anaesthesia. CONCLUSIONS: These studies confirm that the SEBR is usually reduced under surface anaesthesia (so is sensitive to exogenous control) but the pattern of the eyeblink activity is unchanged (so is less sensitive to exogenous control). The removal of exogenous stimuli by anaesthesia does not shift the eyeblink pattern to a single type, so indicates endogenous control.
PURPOSE: To determine whether there is a change in the pattern of human eyeblink events under topical ocular anaesthesia. METHODS: Forty male subjects, aged between 19 and 52 years and with no significant ocular surface disease, were recruited. Their spontaneous eyeblink activity, in primary eye gaze position and in silence, was recorded for 5-min periods, before and after instillation of benoxinate 0.4% eyedrops. The surface anaesthesia was confirmed by aesthesiometry. RESULTS: The spontaneous eyeblink rate (SEBR) decreased from 9.1+/-4.0 blinks/min to an average of 5.7+/-3.3 blinks/min, with 37 subjects showing a decreased eyeblink rate under anaesthesia. Three blink patterns were observed before anaesthesia (symmetrical, J-type and I-type) and these were essentially unchanged under anaesthesia. CONCLUSIONS: These studies confirm that the SEBR is usually reduced under surface anaesthesia (so is sensitive to exogenous control) but the pattern of the eyeblink activity is unchanged (so is less sensitive to exogenous control). The removal of exogenous stimuli by anaesthesia does not shift the eyeblink pattern to a single type, so indicates endogenous control.
Authors: Carlos Belmonte; Jason J Nichols; Stephanie M Cox; James A Brock; Carolyn G Begley; David A Bereiter; Darlene A Dartt; Anat Galor; Pedram Hamrah; Jason J Ivanusic; Deborah S Jacobs; Nancy A McNamara; Mark I Rosenblatt; Fiona Stapleton; James S Wolffsohn Journal: Ocul Surf Date: 2017-07-20 Impact factor: 5.033
Authors: Ziwei Wu; Carolyn G Begley; Nicholas Port; Arthur Bradley; Richard Braun; Ewen King-Smith Journal: Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci Date: 2015-07 Impact factor: 4.799