Synaptic Physiology in the Isolated Mammalian Cochlea

耳蜗是哺乳动物听力的感受器。它的一组机械感觉细胞--内毛细胞--与将信息传送到大脑的听觉感觉神经元进行独特的功能性突触接触。与许多其他突触部位不同的是，在哺乳动物耳蜗中，一个内毛细胞的单个活动区通常构成传入神经元的整个突触输入，不同于其他地方常见的广泛分支。这一探索性项目将开发一种新的哺乳动物耳蜗体外分离制剂，以利用独特的机会研究单个突触活动区的生理学。这一结果将对我们理解突触机制具有重要意义，而分离制备将为听神经科学提供一种重要的新途径。

The cochlea is the receptor organ for hearing in mammals. One group of its mechanosensory cells, the inner hair cells, make unique functional synaptic contacts with auditory sensory neurons that carry information to the brain. Unlike many other synaptic sites, in the mammalian cochlea a single active zone of one inner hair cell usually constitutes the entire synaptic input to the afferent neurons, unlike the extensive branching common elsewhere. This exploratory project will develop a novel isolated preparation of the mammalian cochlea to exploit the unique opportunity to study the physiology of a single synaptic active zone. Results will be important to our understanding of synaptic mechanisms, and the isolated preparation will provide an important new approach with impact on auditory neuroscience.