Yuta Masuda, Kakeru Shimizu, Marina Khatun, Sajjad Hossain, Risa Shimane, Nanaka Tameike, Yukari Takeda, Chikara Abe
Vestibular compensation relies on sensory reweighting, but whether repeated hypergravity training (HT) facilitates recovery after bilateral vestibular lesion (BVL) remains unclear. We investigated the effects of HT on motor function and dorsal root ganglion (DRG) transcriptomes in mice following BVL. Mice underwent sham surgery or BVL and were assigned to either HT (2 G, 60 min/day for 10 days) or no HT (NHT). Body weight, righting reflex, and rotarod performance were evaluated, and RNA sequencing of L5 DRGs was performed on day 7. HT did not improve body weight loss or vestibular-dependent righting reflex deficits. However, HT resulted in significantly better rotarod performance on Day 7 compared with NHT. RNA sequencing identified 397 candidate genes, with enrichment of muscle-related and myelination-related biological processes. These findings suggest that repeated HT facilitates vestibular compensation by promoting transcriptional changes in DRGs and enhancing peripheral somatosensory plasticity rather than restoring vestibular function itself.