Environmental dependent influences on the developmental refinement of excitatory inputs at an ultra-fast coincidence detector neuron

双耳重合检测依赖于内侧上级橄榄（MSO）神经元中精确的兴奋-抑制相互作用。这种精确性是通过出生后发育后期的改变来实现的，这一时期的特点是在听觉系统中建立了突出的结构-功能关系。MSO神经元的兴奋性输入如何在出生后晚期发育过程中完善尚不清楚。在这个建议中，我们计划机械地调查这些过程，通过量化的兴奋性电流的发育变化和轴突输入模式的形态。为了揭示是什么驱动了这些变化，我们将在全方位白色噪音中饲养的沙鼠中进行这些实验，这些噪音抑制了相关的感觉空间线索。相反，声音诱发活动的影响将使用耳蜗消融术消除。应用这两种形式的感觉操纵将使我们能够区分是否声音诱发的活动或空间线索的经验是至关重要的功能重要的电路完善的MSO。因此，我们的研究将提供一个定量的洞察机制，驱动突触兴奋的发展在超快符合检测器神经元声源定位的重要。

Binaural coincidence detection relies on the precise excitation-inhibition interaction in neurons of the medial superior olive (MSO). This precision is achieved through alterations during late postnatal development, a period marked by the establishment of prominent structure-function relationships in the auditory system. How excitatory inputs to MSO neurons refine during late postnatal development is unknown. In this proposal, we plan to mechanistically investigate these processes, through quantification of the developmental changes of excitatory currents and the morphology of axonal input patterns. To unravel what drives these changes we will perform these experiments in gerbils raised in omnidirectional white noise, which suppresses relevant sensory spatial cues. Conversely, the impact of sound-evoked activity will be eliminated using cochlear ablations. Applying both forms of sensory manipulation will allow us to distinguish whether sound evoked activity or the experience of spatial cues is crucial for functionally important circuit refinements in the MSO. Thus, our study will provide a quantitative insight into mechanisms that drive the development of synaptic excitation at an ultrafast coincidence detector neuron important for sound source localization.