CYTOLOGY AND CONNECTIONS OF THE AUDITORY SYSTEM

这项工作的长期目标是提供一个描述 哺乳动物听觉系统的神经元元件，以及 了解其组织和功能。的方法之一 这一目标的目标是识别不同的神经元细胞类别 通过其特有的细胞化学特性，如 免疫细胞化学免疫细胞化学鉴定的连接 通过结合通路追踪实验和 免疫染色。这样的结果揭示了更令人关注的联系 单个细胞类型比其他可能的。抗体 其被证明可用于分析动物组织 了解动物和人类组织在多大程度上 类似的，并提供一个基础，推断组织的 人类系统。拟议的工作重点是组织 耳蜗核（CN）及其连接。免疫细胞化学将 用于显示星状细胞的特征性细胞化学成分 细胞和轴突终末。独特的化学特征 用来区分不同的星状亚类。的投影 化学上不同的CN细胞类别将通过注射 辣根过氧化物酶（HRP）进入下丘和外侧 猫丘系核逆行标记CN神经元， 对标记的CN神经元进行免疫染色，以显示其特征性 化学特征CN的输入将通过以下方式进行类似标识： 将HRP注入CN，然后逆行免疫染色 在上级橄榄和下丘内的标记细胞， 了解发现了哪些神经肽或神经递质相关酶 在提供CN输入的小区内。有关人员的存在和 CN章鱼细胞和中央核主细胞数 人类的梯形体将使用抗体来解决， 描述这些细胞的特征。结果应该产生相当大的 关于脑干组成和组织的新信息 猫和人类的听觉结构。这些信息最终将 有助于理解这些结构在听力中的作用， 在更好地了解成熟的赤字发生时， 结构发生病变或损坏。

The long-term objective of this work is to provide a description of the neuronal elements of the mammalian auditory system, together with knowledge of their organization and function. One of the approaches toward this objective is to identify distinctive neuronal cell classes by their characteristic cytochemical properties, as revealed by immunocytochemistry. Connections of immunocytochemically identified cells are demonstrated by combining pathway tracing experiments with immunostaining. Such results reveal far greater concerning connections of individual cell types than would otherwise be possible. Antibodies that prove useful for analyzing animal tissue are applied to human material to learn the extent to which animal and human tissue are similar and to provide a basis for inferring the organization of the human system. The proposed work focuses on the organization of the cochlear nucleus (CN) and its connection. Immunocytochemistry will be used to demonstrate characteristic cytochemical constituents of stellate cells and of axon terminals on them. Unique chemical signatures will be used to distinguish various stellate subclasses. The projections of chemically distinct CN cell classes will be determined by injecting horseradish peroxidase (HRP) into the inferior colliculus and lateral lemniscal nuclei of cats to retrogradely label CN neurons and then immunostaining the labeled CN neurons to show their characteristic chemical signatures. Inputs to the CN will be similarly identified by injecting HRP into the CN and then immunostaining the retrogradely labeled cells within the superior olive and the inferior colliculus to learn what neuropeptides or neurotransmitter-related enzymes are found within ells providing CN inputs. Issues concerning the presence and numbers of CN octopus cells and principal cells of the medial nucleus of the trapezoid body in humans will be addressed using antibodies that characterize these cells in cats. Results should produce considerable new information about the composition and organization of brainstem auditory structures in cats and humans. Such information will ultimately be useful for understanding the role of these structures in hearing and in better understanding the mature of deficits that occur when these structures are diseased or damaged.