scholarly journals Intracellular Recordings From Combination-Sensitive Neurons in the Inferior Colliculus

2008 ◽  
Vol 100 (2) ◽  
pp. 629-645 ◽  
Author(s):  
Diana Coomes Peterson ◽  
Sergiy Voytenko ◽  
Donald Gans ◽  
Alexander Galazyuk ◽  
Jeffrey Wenstrup

In vertebrate auditory systems, specialized combination-sensitive neurons analyze complex vocal signals by integrating information across multiple frequency bands. We studied combination-sensitive interactions in neurons of the inferior colliculus (IC) of awake mustached bats, using intracellular somatic recording with sharp electrodes. Facilitated combinatorial neurons are coincidence detectors, showing maximum facilitation when excitation from low- and high-frequency stimuli coincide. Previous work showed that facilitatory interactions originate in the IC, require both low and high frequency–tuned glycinergic inputs, and are independent of glutamatergic inputs. These results suggest that glycinergic inputs evoke facilitation through either postinhibitory rebound or direct depolarizing mechanisms. However, in 35 of 36 facilitated neurons, we observed no evidence of low frequency–evoked transient hyperpolarization or depolarization that was closely related to response facilitation. Furthermore, we observed no evidence of shunting inhibition that might conceal inhibitory inputs. Since these facilitatory interactions originate in IC neurons, the results suggest that inputs underlying facilitation are electrically segregated from the soma. We also recorded inhibitory combinatorial interactions, in which low frequency sounds suppress responses to higher frequency signals. In 43% of 118 neurons, we observed low frequency–evoked hyperpolarizations associated with combinatorial inhibition. For these neurons, we conclude that low frequency–tuned inhibitory inputs terminate on neurons primarily excited by high-frequency signals; these inhibitory inputs may create or enhance inhibitory combinatorial interactions. In the remainder of inhibited combinatorial neurons (57%), we observed no evidence of low frequency–evoked hyperpolarizations, consistent with observations that inhibitory combinatorial responses may originate in lateral lemniscal nuclei.

2016 ◽  
Vol 32 (3) ◽  
pp. 297-311
Author(s):  
T.-Y. Zhao ◽  
H.-Q. Yuan ◽  
B.-B. Li ◽  
Z.-J. Li ◽  
L.-M. Liu

AbstractThe analysis method is developed to obtain dynamic characteristics of the rotating cantilever plate with thermal shock and tip-rub. Based on the variational principle, equations of motion are derived considering the differences between rubbing forces in the width direction of the plate. The transverse deformation is decomposed into quasi-static deformation of the cantilever plate with thermal shock and dynamic deformation of the rubbing plate under thermal shock. Then deformations are obtained through the calculation of modal characteristics of rotating cantilever plate and temperature distribution function. Special attention is paid to the influence of tip-rub and thermal shock on the plate. The results show that tip-rub has the characteristics of multiple frequency vibrations, and high frequency vibrations are significant. On the contrary, thermal shock shows the low frequency vibrations. The thermal shock makes the rubbing plate gradually change into low frequency vibrations. Because rub-induced vibrations are more complicated than those caused by thermal shock, tip-rub is easier to result in the destruction of the blade. The increasing friction coefficient intensifies vibrations of the rubbing plate. Minimizing friction coefficients can be an effective way to reduce rub-induced damage through reducing the surface roughness between the blade tip and the inner surface of the casing.


2009 ◽  
Vol 141 (3) ◽  
pp. P189-P189
Author(s):  
Zheng-Nong Chen ◽  
Hai-Bo Shi ◽  
Shan-Kai Yin

2009 ◽  
Vol 102 (1) ◽  
pp. 167-180 ◽  
Author(s):  
Donald Gans ◽  
Kianoush Sheykholeslami ◽  
Diana Coomes Peterson ◽  
Jeffrey Wenstrup

This report examines temporal features of facilitation and suppression that underlie spectrally integrative responses to complex vocal signals. Auditory responses were recorded from 160 neurons in the inferior colliculus (IC) of awake mustached bats. Sixty-two neurons showed combination-sensitive facilitation: responses to best frequency (BF) signals were facilitated by well-timed signals at least an octave lower in frequency, in the range 16–31 kHz. Temporal features and strength of facilitation were generally unaffected by changes in duration of facilitating signals from 4 to 31 ms. Changes in stimulus rise time from 0.5 to 5.0 ms had little effect on facilitatory strength. These results suggest that low frequency facilitating inputs to high BF neurons have phasic-on temporal patterns and are responsive to stimulus rise times over the tested range. We also recorded from 98 neurons showing low-frequency (11–32 kHz) suppression of higher BF responses. Effects of changing duration were related to the frequency of suppressive signals. Signals <23 kHz usually evoked suppression sustained throughout signal duration. This and other features of such suppression are consistent with a cochlear origin that results in masking of responses to higher, near-BF signal frequencies. Signals in the 23- to 30-kHz range—frequencies in the first sonar harmonic—generally evoked phasic suppression of BF responses. This may result from neural inhibitory interactions within and below IC. In many neurons, we observed two or more forms of the spectral interactions described here. Thus IC neurons display temporally and spectrally complex responses to sound that result from multiple spectral interactions at different levels of the ascending auditory pathway.


1993 ◽  
Vol 70 (1) ◽  
pp. 64-80 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. Batra ◽  
S. Kuwada ◽  
T. R. Stanford

1. Localization of sounds has traditionally been considered to be performed by a duplex mechanism utilizing interaural temporal differences (ITDs) at low frequencies and interaural intensity differences at higher frequencies. More recently, it has been found that listeners can detect ITDs at high frequencies if the amplitude of the sound varies and an ITD is present in the envelope. Here we report the responses of neurons in the inferior colliculi of unanesthetized rabbits to ITDs of the envelopes of sinusoidally amplitude-modulated (SAM) tones. 2. Neurons were studied extracellularly with glass-coated Pt-Ir or Pt-W microelectrodes. Their sensitivity to ITDs in the envelopes of high-frequency sounds (> or = 2 kHz) was assessed using SAM tones that were presented binaurally. The tones at the two ears had the same carrier frequency but modulation frequencies that differed by 1 Hz. This caused a cyclic variation in the ITD produced by the envelope. In this "binaural SAM" stimulus, the carriers caused no ITD because they were in phase. In addition to the binaural SAM stimulus, pure tones were used to investigate responses to ipsilateral and contralateral stimulation and the nature of the interaction during binaural stimulation. 3. Neurons tended to display one of two kinds of sensitivity to ITDs. Some neurons discharged maximally at the same ITD at all modulation frequencies > 250 Hz (peak-type neurons), whereas others were maximally suppressed at the same ITD (trough-type neurons). 4. At these higher modulation frequencies (> 250 Hz), the characteristic delays that neurons exhibited tended to lie within the range that a rabbit might normally encounter (+/- 300 microseconds). The peak-type neurons favored ipsilateral delays, which correspond to sounds in the contralateral sound field. The trough-type neurons showed no such preference. 5. The preference of peak-type neurons for a particular delay was sharper than that of trough-type neurons and was comparable to that observed in neurons of the inferior colliculus that are sensitive to delays of low-frequency pure tones. 6. At lower modulation frequencies (< 150 Hz) characteristic delays often lay beyond +/- 300 microseconds. 7. Increasing the ipsilateral intensity tended to shift the preferred delay ipsilaterally at lower (< 250 Hz), but not at higher, modulation frequencies. 8. When tested with pure tones, a substantial number of peak-type neurons were found to be excited by contralateral stimulation but inhibited by ipsilateral stimulation.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)


2009 ◽  
Vol 129 (12) ◽  
pp. 1451-1455
Author(s):  
Zhengnong Chen ◽  
Dongzhen Yu ◽  
Yanmei Feng ◽  
Kaiming Su ◽  
Jian Wang ◽  
...  

1994 ◽  
Vol 72 (3) ◽  
pp. 1061-1079 ◽  
Author(s):  
Z. M. Fuzessery

1. While hunting, the pallid bat uses passive sound localization at low frequencies to find terrestrial prey, and echolocation for general orientation. It must therefore process two different types of acoustic input at the same time. The pallid bat's echolocation pulse is a downward frequency-modulated (FM) sweep from 60 to 30 kHz. This study examined the response selectivity of single neurons in the pallid bat's central nucleus of the inferior colliculus (ICC) for FM sweeps, comparing the response properties of the high-frequency population, tuned to the biosonar pulse, with the low-frequency population, tuned below the pulse. The working hypothesis was that the high-frequency population would exhibit a response selectivity for downward FM sweeps that was not present in the low-frequency population. 2. Neurons were tested for their selectivity for FM sweep direction, duration, frequency range and bandwidth, and rate of frequency change. The extent to which they responded exclusively to tones, noise, and FM sweeps was also examined. Significant differences in the response properties of neurons in the two populations were found. In the low-frequency population, all neurons responded to tones, but only 50% responded to FM sweeps. Only 23% were selective for sweep direction. In the high-frequency population, all neurons responded to FM sweeps, but 31% did not respond to tones. Over one-half of this population was selective for sweep direction, and of those that were selective, all preferred the downward sweep direction of the biosonar pulse. A large percentage (31%) responded exclusively to downward sweeps, and not to tones or upward sweeps. None of the cells in either population responded to noise, or did so only at very high relative thresholds. 3. Both populations contained neurons that were selective for short stimulus durations that approximated the duration of the biosonar pulse, although the percentage was greater in the high-frequency population (58% vs. 20%). In the high-frequency population, 31% of the neurons tested for duration responded exclusively to both the sweep direction and duration of the biosonar pulse. 4. Downward FM-selective neurons, with one exception, were generally insensitive to the rate of frequency change of the FM sweep, as well as the frequency range and bandwidth of the sweep. They responded similarly to both the full 60- to 30-kHz sweep and to 5-kHz bandwidth portions of the full sweep.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)


2006 ◽  
Vol 96 (3) ◽  
pp. 1320-1336 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zoltan M. Fuzessery ◽  
Marlin D. Richardson ◽  
Michael S. Coburn

This study describes mechanisms that underlie neuronal selectivity for the direction and rate of frequency-modulated sweeps in the central nucleus of the inferior colliculus (ICC) of the pallid bat ( Antrozous pallidus). This ICC contains a high percentage of neurons (66%) that respond selectively to the downward sweep direction of the bat's echolocation pulse. Some (19%) are specialists that respond only to downward sweeps. Most neurons (83%) are also tuned to sweep rates. A two-tone inhibition paradigm was used to describe inhibitory mechanisms that shape selectivity for sweep direction and rate. Two different mechanisms can create similar rate tuning. The first is an early on-best frequency inhibition that shapes duration tuning, which in turn determines rate tuning. In most neurons that are not duration tuned, a delayed high-frequency inhibition creates rate tuning. These neurons respond to fast sweep rates, but are inhibited as rate slows, and delayed inhibition overlaps excitation. In these neurons, starting a downward sweep within the excitatory tuning curve eliminates rate tuning. However, if rate tuning is shaped by duration tuning, this manipulation has no effect. Selectivity for the downward sweep direction is created by an early low-frequency inhibition that prevents responses to upward sweeps. In addition to this asymmetry in arrival times of low- and high-frequency inhibitions, the bandwidth of the low-frequency sideband was broader. Bandwidth influences the arrival time of inhibition during an FM sweep because a broader sideband will be encountered sooner. These findings show that similar spectrotemporal filters can be created by different mechanisms.


2006 ◽  
Vol 95 (4) ◽  
pp. 2179-2192 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kiran Nataraj ◽  
Jeffrey J. Wenstrup

We studied the functional properties and underlying neural mechanisms associated with inhibitory combination-sensitive neurons in the mustached bat's inferior colliculus (IC). In these neurons, the excitatory response to best frequency tones was suppressed by lower frequency signals (usually in the range of 12–30 kHz) in a time-dependant manner. Of 143 inhibitory units, the majority (71%) were type I, in which low-frequency sounds evoked inhibition only. In the remainder, however, the low-frequency inhibitory signal also evoked excitation. Of these, excitation preceded the inhibition in type E/I units (16%), whereas in type I/E units (13%), excitation followed the inhibition. Type E/I and I/E units were distinct in the tuning and threshold sensitivity of low-frequency responses, whereas type I units overlapped the other types in these features. In 71 neurons, antagonists to receptors for glycine [strychnine (STRY)] or GABA [bicuculline (BIC)] were applied microiontophoretically. These antagonists failed to eliminate combination-sensitive inhibition in 92% (STRY), 93% (BIC), and 87% (BIC + STRY) of the type I units tested. However, inhibition was reduced in many neurons. Results were similar for type E/I and I/E inhibitory neurons. The results indicate that there are distinct populations of combination-sensitive inhibited neurons in the IC and that these populations are at least partly independent of glycine or GABAA receptors in the IC. We propose that these populations originate in different brain stem auditory nuclei, that they may be modified by interactions within the IC, and that they may perform different spectrotemporal analyses of vocal signals.


1986 ◽  
Vol 56 (2) ◽  
pp. 391-408 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. F. Willott

Multiple-unit threshold curves (MTCs) were obtained from inferior colliculus (IC) neurons across much of the (approximately 2-2.5 yr) life-span of two inbred mouse strains: the C57BL/6, which undergoes progressive age-related sensorineural hearing loss; and the CBA, which maintains good sensitivity until well into the second year of life. Tonotopic organization (the orderly dorsoventral arrangement of frequency sensitivity) is disrupted in the IC central nucleus (ICC) of aging C57 mice. Dorsal (low-frequency) MTCs change little during the first year of life, but in more ventral (high-frequency) regions high-frequency portions of MTCs are eliminated, best frequencies become lower, and low-frequency thresholds are reduced. These changes make the curves more similar to one another along the dorsoventral axis. During the second year of life, all thresholds become greatly elevated with neurons throughout the IC responding only to middle frequencies at very high intensities. In C57 mice, Q10 ratios (a measure of MTC tip sharpness) decline after 7 mo. The decline of Q10 with aging is associated with the age-related lowering of best frequencies and elevation of thresholds, both of which are positively correlated with smaller Q10s. The frequency range of C57 MTCs begins to decrease at 14 mo of age, when hearing loss is quite severe at all frequencies. In CBA mice, the above changes are minimal or do not occur even in 22 mo olds, which have moderate loss of sensitivity across all frequencies. Even in young mice (prior to demonstrable cochlear pathology in C57 mice), there are differences in MTCs between the two strains employed, with sensitivity of CBA mice being "shifted" toward higher frequencies. Age-related changes in MTC properties depend on the pattern of hearing loss (e.g., high frequency vs. flat) and the dorsoventral location of neurons within the ICC.


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