CELLULAR BASIS FOR SIGNAL PROCESSING IN AUDITORY SYSTEMS

目标是了解中央处理的细胞基础。 单元类型的特定双耳和单耳电路，从 耳蜗核至下丘。直接或通过 上橄榄和外侧丘疹的核。跨学科的 方法将表征结构、电生理和 这些环路的神经化学性质，尤其是抑制性 组件。将研究细胞类型的突触连接 从解剖学上讲，虽然它们对声刺激的反应特性 将被生理学地定义并且相关的神经元组被标记 通过记录电极具有微标记。细胞化学 标记将定位传入输入中的可疑发射器 这些细胞类型。这些投入对世代的贡献 的神经反应将通过刺激或阻断它们来研究 神经化学在解剖学和生理学相结合的实验中。 这一分析将有助于形成有用的突触机制模型 以电路中每种类型神经元的响应特性为基础。 这对于解释支配细胞的机制是必要的 这些回路在正常知觉中的运作和它们的改变 对创伤的反应。耳蜗核的成熟反应 声伤，表现为噪声所致的感觉神经性听力损失 耳蜗的损伤，将根据新的生长情况进行评估 轴突和递质的神经化学，这可能涉及 抑制性突触。最后，脑内神经元的双耳反应。 对下丘进行声学生理学分析 已知会引起优先效应的刺激。假说 是双耳知觉效应背后的神经事件 依赖于听力中的抑制机制。

The goal is to understand the cellular basis for central processing in specific binaural and monaural circuits of cell types, extending from the cochlear nucleus to the inferior colliculus. either directly or via the nuclei of the superior olive and lateral lemniscus. An interdisciplinary approach will characterize the structural, electrophysiological, and neurochemical properties of these circuits, especially the inhibitory components. The synaptic connections of the cell types will be studied anatomically, while their response properties to acoustic stimulation will be defined physiologically and the related groups of neurons labeled with micromarkers through the recording electrodes. Cytochemical labeling will localize the suspected transmitters in the afferent inputs to these cell types. The contributions of these inputs to the generation of the neuronal responses will be studied by stimulating or blocking them neurochemically in combined anatomical and physiological experiments. The analysis will help to form useful models of the synaptic mechanisms underlying the response properties of each type of neuron in the circuit. This is necessary to explain the cellular mechanisms governing the operation of these circuits in normal perception and their alterations in response to trauma. The reaction of the mature cochlear nucleus to acoustic trauma, as evinced in sensorineural hearing loss due to noise damage of the cochlea, will be assessed in terms of the new growth of axons and the neurochemistry of the transmitters, which may involve inhibitory synapses. Finally the binaural responses of neurons in the inferior colliculus will be analyzed physiologically with acoustic stimuli that are known to elicit the precedence effect. The hypothesis is that the neural events underlying the binaural perceptual effect depend on inhibitory mechanisms in hearing.