Medial superior olivary neurons receive surprisingly few excitatory and inhibitory inputs with balanced strength and short-term dynamics.
نویسندگان
چکیده
Neurons in the medial superior olive (MSO) process microsecond interaural time differences, the major cue for localizing low-frequency sounds, by comparing the relative arrival time of binaural, glutamatergic excitatory inputs. This coincidence detection mechanism is additionally shaped by highly specialized glycinergic inhibition. Traditionally, it is assumed that the binaural inputs are conveyed by many independent fibers, but such an anatomical arrangement may decrease temporal precision. Short-term depression on the other hand might enhance temporal fidelity during ongoing activity. For the first time we show that binaural coincidence detection in MSO neurons may require surprisingly few but strong inputs, challenging long-held assumptions about mammalian coincidence detection. This study exclusively uses adult gerbils for in vitro electrophysiology, single-cell electroporation and immunohistochemistry to characterize the size and short-term plasticity of inputs to the MSO. We find that the excitatory and inhibitory inputs to the MSO are well balanced both in strength and short-term dynamics, redefining this fastest of all mammalian coincidence detector circuits.
منابع مشابه
The mammalian interaural time difference detection circuit is differentially controlled by GABAB receptors during development.
Throughout development GABA(B) receptors (GABA(B)Rs) are widely expressed in the mammalian brain. In mature auditory brainstem neurons, GABA(B)Rs are involved in the short-term regulation of the strength and dynamics of excitatory and inhibitory inputs, thus modulating sound analysis. During development, GABA(B)Rs also contribute to long-term changes in input strength. Using a combination of wh...
متن کاملThe relative contributions of MNTB and LNTB neurons to inhibition in the medial superior olive assessed through single and paired recordings
The medial superior olive (MSO) senses microsecond differences in the coincidence of binaural signals, a critical cue for detecting sound location along the azimuth. An important component of this circuit is provided by inhibitory neurons of the medial and lateral nuclei of the trapezoid body (MNTB and LNTB, respectively). While MNTB neurons are fairly well described, little is known about the ...
متن کاملCellular dynamics involved in sound localization
The early stages of binaural processing involve components that appear to be well-designed for precise temporal processing. Neurons that perform coincidence detection for low frequency inputs respond best to rapidly changing inputs. They fire in a phasic manner not tonically and they phase-lock with high vector strength (VS) up to 2 KHz or so. Several features at the biophysical level have been...
متن کاملRoles for Coincidence Detection in Coding Amplitude-Modulated Sounds
Many sensory neurons encode temporal information by detecting coincident arrivals of synaptic inputs. In the mammalian auditory brainstem, binaural neurons of the medial superior olive (MSO) are known to act as coincidence detectors, whereas in the lateral superior olive (LSO) roles of coincidence detection have remained unclear. LSO neurons receive excitatory and inhibitory inputs driven by ip...
متن کاملAsymmetric Excitatory Synaptic Dynamics Underlie Interaural Time Difference Processing in the Auditory System
Low-frequency sound localization depends on the neural computation of interaural time differences (ITD) and relies on neurons in the auditory brain stem that integrate synaptic inputs delivered by the ipsi- and contralateral auditory pathways that start at the two ears. The first auditory neurons that respond selectively to ITD are found in the medial superior olivary nucleus (MSO). We identifi...
متن کاملذخیره در منابع من
با ذخیره ی این منبع در منابع من، دسترسی به آن را برای استفاده های بعدی آسان تر کنید
عنوان ژورنال:
- The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience
دوره 30 50 شماره
صفحات -
تاریخ انتشار 2010