Department of Neurology, University Hospital Zurich and Institute of Theoretical Physics, ETH Zurich, Switzerland
Address for correspondence: Dr. Thomas Haslwanter, Department of Neurology, Frauenklin-ikstr. 26, CH- 8091 Zürich, Switzerland. Voice: +41-1-255 3996; fax: +41-1-255 4507.
haslwant{at}neurol.unizh.ch
Ann. N.Y. Acad. Sci. 956: 33-41 (2002).
Our understanding of the functional structure of extraocular
muscles has undergone a profound change: while these muscles
used to be represented by strings running straight from their
origin in the posterior orbita to their insertion on the globe,
we now know that their paths and pulling directions are dominated
by fibromuscular pulley structures, keeping them close to the
orbital wall for most of their path. An overview is presented
of recent models that have been developed to understand the
implications of muscle pulleys for the neural control of eye
movements and the applications of such models to the interpretation
of experimental data.
