![]() They have somata in the lateral vestibular nucleus and receive convergent excitatory and inhibitory vestibular input as well as a wide variety of extravestibular inputs. Vestibulospinal neurons are descending projection neurons conserved across vertebrates that are well-poised to regulate balance. Understanding this transformation requires both mapping the underlying synaptic organization and defining the specific contribution of vestibular neurons to behavior. These computations are performed by brainstem neurons that integrate synaptic inputs from the inner ear with extravestibular information to transform sensed imbalance into specific behaviors. To remain balanced during locomotion, animals actively modulate the timing and strength of their trunk and limb/effector movements. As the need for stable locomotion is common and the vestibulospinal circuit is highly conserved our findings reveal general mechanisms for neuronal control of balance. We conclude that vestibulospinal neurons turn synaptic representations of body tilt into defined corrective behaviors and coordinated movements. Finally, we observed that lesions disrupt vestibular-dependent coordination between the fins and trunk during vertical swimming, linking vestibulospinal neurons to navigation. We used a generative model of swimming to demonstrate that together these disruptions can account for the increased postural variability. After loss of vestibulospinal neurons, larvae adopted eccentric postures with disrupted movement timing and weaker corrective kinematics. Further, we find that this synaptic architecture allows them to respond to linear acceleration in a directionally-tuned and utricle-dependent manner they are thus poised to guide corrective movements. Next, we map the synaptic inputs to vestibulospinal neurons that allow them to encode posture. First, we find that vestibulospinal neurons are born and are functionally mature before larvae swim freely, allowing them to act as a substrate for postural regulation. Here we address this problem by measuring the development, synaptic architecture, and behavioral contributions of vestibulospinal neurons in the larval zebrafish. A major challenge in the neuroscience of balance is to link the synaptic and cellular substrates that encode body tilts to specific behaviors that stabilize posture and enable efficient locomotion. Vertebrate vestibular circuits use sensory signals derived from the inner ear to guide both corrective and volitional movements.
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