Can vestibular compensation be enhanced by drug treatment?

Unilateral vestibular deafferentation (UVD) causes ocular motor and postural disorders, some of which disappear over time in a process of behavioral recovery known as vestibular compensation. This review summarises and evaluates the present status of drugs which enhance the vestibular compensation process either by reducing the initial symptoms of UVD or by accelerating the compensation process. Three classes of drugs are selected for review because of the amount of experimental evidence relating to them and because they are, for the most part, safe for use in humans: melanotropic peptides, calcium antagonists and gangliosides/Ginkgo Biloba extract EGb 761. It is concluded that the evidence supporting the efficacy of the melanotropic peptides and the Ginkgo Biloba extract EGb 761 in accelerating compensation is the most convincing; by comparison, the evidence relating to the effects of calcium antagonists on vestibular compensation is more controversial.  more