Effects of omni-directional noise-exposure during hearing onset and age on auditory spatial resolution in the Mongolian gerbil (Meriones unguiculatus) — a behavioral approach

Maier, Julia K.; Kindermann, Teresa; Grothe, Benedikt; Klump, Georg M.

doi:10.1016/j.brainres.2008.01.083

Cited by 18 publications

(12 citation statements)

References 38 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Consistent with the pathology in MNTB, MSO and LSO, auditory spatial resolution was impaired in old gerbils (Maier et al, 2008). The minimum resolvable angle in a sound lateralisation task showed a higher degree of inter-animal variability in old (32 to 51 months), as compared to young (3-8 months), gerbils.…”

Section: Auditory Spatial Resolutionsupporting

confidence: 67%

“…The angle for pure tones (0.5 and 8 kHz) and narrowband noise centred at 0.5 and 2 kHz was ≈ 50-60° in old gerbils, approximately twice the angle found in young gerbils. Maier et al (2008) suggest that spongiform lesions in the VCN compromise the excitatory input, while pathology of the MNTB affects the inhibitory input to LSO and MSO and contribute to impaired auditory spatial resolution in old gerbils.…”

Section: Auditory Spatial Resolutionmentioning

confidence: 98%

See 1 more Smart Citation

The Mongolian Gerbil as a Model for the Analysis of Peripheral and Central Age-Dependent Hearing Loss

Gleich¹,

Strutz²

2012

Hearing Loss

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Section: Auditory Spatial Resolutionsupporting

confidence: 67%

Section: Auditory Spatial Resolutionmentioning

confidence: 98%

The Mongolian Gerbil as a Model for the Analysis of Peripheral and Central Age-Dependent Hearing Loss

Gleich¹,

Strutz²

2012

Hearing Loss

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

“…Because there have been relatively few studies on the ability of gerbils to localize sounds using ITDs (Heffner and Heffner, 1988;Maier and Klump, 2006;Maier et al, 2008), we tested their ability to localize sounds in the horizontal plane using a 2AFC task, the design of which is illustrated in Figure 1a. We trained gerbils to place their nose in a ring to disrupt a light beam and elicit a sound from one of two speakers, which were spaced symmetrically about the midline at various angles.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Population Coding of Interaural Time Differences in Gerbils and Barn Owls

Lesica¹,

Lingner²,

Grothe³

2010

J. Neurosci.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Interaural time differences (ITDs) are the primary cue for the localization of low-frequency sound sources in the azimuthal plane. For decades, it was assumed that the coding of ITDs in the mammalian brain was similar to that in the avian brain, where information is sparsely distributed across individual neurons, but recent studies have suggested otherwise. In this study, we characterized the representation of ITDs in adult male and female gerbils. First, we performed behavioral experiments to determine the acuity with which gerbils can use ITDs to localize sounds. Next, we used different decoders to infer ITDs from the activity of a population of neurons in central nucleus of the inferior colliculus. These results show that ITDs are not represented in a distributed manner, but rather in the summed activity of the entire population. To contrast these results with those from a population where the representation of ITDs is known to be sparsely distributed, we performed the same analysis on activity from the external nucleus of the inferior colliculus of adult male and female barn owls. Together, our results support the idea that, unlike the avian brain, the mammalian brain represents ITDs in the overall activity of a homogenous population of neurons within each hemisphere.

show abstract

“…Initial attempts to link specific deficits in the organization of inhibitory inputs in the MSO to the animal sound localization performance have so far been unsuccessful87, but more needs to be done before this issue can be resolved. In light of recent results from human studies that auditory learning and experience can induce changes already on the brainstem level88,89 and that specific language impairment or autism disorders frequently are accompanied by deficits in auditory brainstem processing90,91, insight into the mechanisms underlying brainstem plasticity and reorganization will probably have important clinical implications.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Tonotopic reorganization of developing auditory brainstem circuits

2009

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

A fundamental organizing principle of auditory brain circuits is tonotopy, the orderly representation of the sound frequency to which neurons are most sensitive. Tonotopy arises from the coding of frequency along the cochlea and the topographic organization of auditory pathways. The mechanisms that underlie the establishment of tonotopy are poorly understood. In auditory brainstem pathways, topographic precision is present at very early stages in development, which may suggest that synaptic reorganization contributes little to the construction of precise tonotopic maps. Accumulating evidence from several brainstem nuclei, however, is now changing this view by demonstrating that developing auditory brainstem circuits undergo a marked degree of refinement on both a subcellular and circuit level.Increasing the topographic organization of synaptic connections via activity-dependent refinement is a major milestone in the maturation of neuronal circuits 1 . In the developing auditory system, experience-dependent refinement of tonotopic maps has been well demonstrated in the auditory cortex and in multimodal-integration brain areas [2][3][4][5] . In contrast, primary auditory circuits in the brainstem are assembled with high topographic (tonotopic) precision early in development and show little evidence of subsequent refinement. This picture is based on a wealth of anatomical tracing studies in both birds and mammals that have shown that growing axons innervate their topographically correct target areas from the outset and do not establish aberrant, transient connections to incorrect nuclei [6][7][8][9] . Likewise, physiological studies indicate that a precise tonotopic organization is present as soon as central auditory pathways can be activated by sound [10][11][12] . Even if the formation of a projection is induced by embryonic otocyst (an ectodermal invagination that constitutes the primordium of the internal ear) removal, the projection is tonotopically organized 13 .Recently, however, this traditional picture of a developmentally predetermined and 'hardwired' auditory brainstem has undergone a substantial revision. It is becoming increasingly apparent that auditory synapses in the brainstem can express activity-dependent synaptic plasticity [14][15][16] and that auditory brainstem circuits undergo an unexpected degree of synaptic reorganization. Here we summarize recent evidence from the cochlear nucleus and primary © 2009 Nature America, Inc. All rights reserved.Correspondence should be addressed to K.K. (kkarl@pitt.edu).. (Fig. 1) that support the view that the emergence of precise tonotopy depends on circuit refinement, and discuss potential underlying mechanisms. NIH Public Access Auditory nerve projections to the cochlear nucleusCochlear hair cells, the sensory cells that transform sound energy into electrical signals, are connected to the brain by spiral ganglion neurons whose centrally directed axons form the auditory nerve. After entering the brain, each auditory nerve fiber branches to innervate...

show abstract

Effects of omni-directional noise-exposure during hearing onset and age on auditory spatial resolution in the Mongolian gerbil (Meriones unguiculatus) — a behavioral approach

Cited by 18 publications

References 38 publications

The Mongolian Gerbil as a Model for the Analysis of Peripheral and Central Age-Dependent Hearing Loss

The Mongolian Gerbil as a Model for the Analysis of Peripheral and Central Age-Dependent Hearing Loss

Population Coding of Interaural Time Differences in Gerbils and Barn Owls

Tonotopic reorganization of developing auditory brainstem circuits

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About