Functional and morphometrical maturation of the brainstem auditory pathway

Inagaki, Masumi; Tsutsumi, Yutaka; Takashima, Sachio; Ohtani, Kyoichi; Andoh, Goroh; Takeshita, Kenzo

doi:10.1016/s0387-7604(87)80092-x

Cited by 39 publications

(20 citation statements)

References 17 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…In no case are the following neurophysiological findings attributed to maturational effects of the brainstem response. The auditory brainstem response to clicks and tones is mature by age 5 (Inagaki et al, 1987;Salamy, 1984), and preliminary work suggests the speech-evoked brainstem response is mature by age 3 (Johnson, Nicol, & Kraus, 2006). There were no significant differences between any of the neurophysiological measures and age among any of the three groups (ANOVA: p > .05).…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Auditory Brainstem Correlates of Perceptual Timing Deficits

Johnson

Nicol²,

Zecker

et al. 2007

Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Abstract& Children with language-based learning problems often exhibit pronounced speech perception difficulties. Specifically, these children have increased difficulty separating brief sounds occurring in rapid succession (temporal resolution). The purpose of this study was to better understand the consequences of auditory temporal resolution deficits from the perspective of the neural encoding of speech. The findings provide evidence that sensory processes relevant to cognition take place at much earlier levels than traditionally believed. Thresholds from a psychophysical backward masking task were used to divide children into groups with good and poor temporal resolution. Speech-evoked brainstem responses were analyzed across groups to measure the neural integrity of stimulus-time mechanisms. Results suggest that children with poor temporal resolution do not have an overall neural processing deficit, but rather a deficit specific to the encoding of certain acoustic cues in speech. Speech understanding relies on the ability to attach meaning to rapidly fluctuating changes of both the temporal and spectral information found in consonants and vowels.

show abstract

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Auditory Brainstem Correlates of Perceptual Timing Deficits

Johnson

Nicol²,

Zecker

et al. 2007

Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…The appearance of myelin coincides with the time of appearance of acousticomotor reflexes in fetuses (Birnholz and Benecerraf 1983;Kuhlman et al 1988). In addition, it is coincident with the time of the first recordable auditory brainstem responses in premature infants (Starr et al 1977;Despland and Galambos 1980;Inagaki et al 1987;Pettigrew et al 1990;Ponton et al 1993). Thus the 28th-29th fetal weeks appear to represent the time of onset of human brainstem auditory function in the sense of rapid, synchronized conduction, as assessed by anatomical, physiological and behavioral measures.…”

Section: Factors In Axogenesismentioning

confidence: 90%

Axogenesis in the human fetal auditory system, demonstrated by neurofilament immunohistochemistry

Moore

Guan

Shi

1996

Anatomy and Embryology

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Morphological, electrophysiological and behavioral evidence indicates that the onset of rapid, synchronized conduction of auditory impulses occurs in the human brainstem during the 28th-29th fetal weeks. This implies that axonal connections in the brainstem auditory pathway are generated prior to this time. In order to investigate the sequence of axogenic events in the human brainstem pathway, we employed immunohistochemical techniques and an antibody to neurofilament protein. Immunostaining for axonal neurofilaments in an age-graded series of fetal brains demonstrates that a small number of cochlear nerve axons have invaded the ventral cochlear nucleus by the 16th fetal week. By this same time point, a limited number of trapezoid body-lateral lemniscus axons have reached the superior olivary complex and inferior colliculus. Between gestational weeks 16 and 26, there is marked expansion and collateralization of the ascending pathway from cochlear nerve to inferior colliculus. By week 26, ascending axons have begun to form plexuses of terminal neuropil within all of the brainstem auditory nuclei. Beginning in week 22, there is development of commissural axons (dorsal commissure of the lateral lemniscus and commissure of the inferior colliculus) and descending projections (descending collicular axons and olivocochlear bundle). This early establishment of a mature pattern of axonal connections presumably forms the basis for the appearance of myelin, acousticomotor reflexes and recordable brainstem responses by fetal week 29.

show abstract

“…Evidence in support of this hypothesis is the fact that the evoked auditory brainstem reaches maturity many years before the auditory cortex (Inagaki et al, 1987;Ponton et al, 2000), indicating a system development hierarchy from the periphery to the center. However, this explanation oversimplifies a very complex system that includes parallel processing in the cortex, which allows for a reciprocal interaction between the brainstem and cortex.…”

Section: Spectral Encoding Measuresmentioning

confidence: 91%