CODING IN AUDITORY NEURONS--EFFECTS OF AMINO ACIDS

描述：过去几年在本实验室完成的研究 多年来，我们对两个密切相关的问题的理解 在听觉研究中：1）抑制性氨基酸如何在 已知的脑干听觉回路来编码声音信息？ 2)什么 是衰老对抑制性氨基酸神经传递的影响， 听觉脑干？ 这种性质的研究已经取得了重大进展 老年性耳聋是老年人的一种主要疾病， 年龄相关性听力损失的药物治疗策略。 在耳蜗核（CN）和耳蜗神经元中的体内离子电渗和体外研究 下丘（IC）揭示了抑制性氨基酸 神经递质关键地参与动态范围的控制， 回波抑制和噪声中的信号检测。 最近的研究表明， 实验室表明CN和IC内回路经历了与年龄相关的 与抑制性神经传递相关的变化。 现时的建议 我将通过开展以下工作来扩大这一坚实的工作基础 建议的研究：1）微离子导入，以检查的作用， 抑制性氨基酸GABA对振幅调制反应的形成 2）神经化学技术，以进一步表征 GABAA受体分子性质的年龄相关变化;以及3） 单单位生理检查年龄相关的变化， DCN梭形细胞的特性。

DESCRIPTION: Studies completed in this laboratory during the past several years have contributed to our understanding of two closely related questions in auditory research: 1) How do inhibitory amino acids function within known brainstem auditory circuits to encode acoustic information? 2) What is the impact of aging on inhibitory amino acid neurotransmission in the auditory brainstem? Studies of this nature have made significant inroads into the nature of presbycusis, a major disorder among the aged and may lead to pharmacological treatment strategies for age-related hearing loss. In vivo iontophoretic and in vitro studies in cochlear nucleus (CN) and inferior colliculus (IC) have revealed that inhibitory amino acid neurotransmitters are critically involved in the control of dynamic range, echo suppression and detection of signal in noise. Recent studies from this laboratory suggest that circuits within the CN and IC undergo age-related changes associated with inhibitory neurotransmission. The current proposal will extend this strong foundation of work by carrying out the following proposed studies: 1) microiontophoresis to examine the role of the inhibitory amino acid GABA in shaping responses to amplitude modulated sinusoids in the IC; 2) neurochemical techniques to further characterize age-related changes in the molecular nature of the GABAA receptor; and 3) single unit physiology to examine age-related changes in the response properties of DCN fusiform cells.