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MAP2 expression in developing dendrites of human brainstem auditory neurons.

Immunostaining of cytoskeletal elements has proved to be a useful technique for tracing ontogenetic development in the human central auditory system. In the present study, dendritic development in brainstem auditory nuclei (dorsal and ventral cochlear nuclei, medial and lateral superior olivary nuclei, and inferior colliculus) was studied using an antibody to a microtubule-associated protein, MAP2, a molecule which stabilizes dendritic processes by promoting assembly of microtubules. At 21-22 weeks of gestation, cells within the auditory nuclei first demonstrate cytoplasmic MAP2 immunoreactivity, but no dendritic structures have formed. Filamentous background staining at this stage may represent immunoreactivity in astrocytic processes. By the 24th fetal week, somata of auditory neurons are strongly immunostained and have developed short dendritic processes. During the perinatal period, dendrites extend up to 100-120 microm in length but are still sparsely branched and lack terminal formations. By the sixth postnatal month, neurons in all auditory nuclei have acquired dendritic arbors with a mature appearance. Thus MAP2 immunohistochemistry demonstrates that dendrogenesis in human brainstem auditory nuclei begins 16 weeks prior to term birth but does not reach the stage of mature dendritic morphology until several months into the postnatal period. This extended course of development implies a significant period of time during which neuronal activity could influence dendritic structure and function.

Auditory Pathways↗

Basal forebrain cholinergic modulation of auditory activity in the zebra finch song system.

The cholinergic basis of auditory "gating" in the sensorimotor nucleus HVc and its efferent target robustus archistriatalis (RA) was investigated in anesthetized zebra finches. Injections of cholinergic agonists carbachol or muscarine into HVc strongly affected discharge rates and diminished auditory responsiveness in both HVc and its target RA, changes toward an awake-like condition. HVc nicotine injections produced similar strong effects in HVc, but weaker and inconsistent effects in RA. Stimulation of basal forebrain (BF) produced an initial transient network shutdown followed by diminished auditory responsiveness in HVc and RA. All stimulation effects were blocked when preceded by HVc injections of nicotinic or muscarinic antagonists. Thus, BF cholinergic modulation of song system auditory activity acting via functionally distinct HVc circuits can contribute to auditory gating. We hypothesize that wakeful BF activity levels block sensory input to motor systems and adaptively change during behavior to allow sensorimotor feedback such as auditory feedback during singing.

Acoustic Stimulation↗

Evoked potentials to auditory movement sensation in duplex perception.

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to examine the processing of auditory movement sensation accompanying duplex perception in binaural hearing. METHODS: Stimuli were formant transitions (presented to the front, left or right of the subject) and base (presented to the front), that fused to result in vowel-consonant-vowel (V-C-V) sequences /aga/ and /ada/. An illusion of auditory movement (duplex sensation) accompanied the fusion of these V-C-V sequences when the spatial locations of the formant transitions and base were different. Ten right-handed, adult, native Hebrew speakers discriminated each fused stimulus, and the brain potentials associated with performance of the task were recorded from 21 electrodes. The processing of auditory movement was studied by a factorial design (ANOVA) and statistical non-parametric mapping (SnPM) of low resolution electromagnetic tomography (LORETA) images of the net-fusion response. Brain regions implicated in auditory movement processing were expected to be associated with the lateralized formant location, which gave rise to duplex perception. In addition, the time-course of significant activation in brain areas that differentiated between fusion conditions was determined. RESULTS: The posterior parietal, anterior cingulate and premotor cortices were found to be implicated in duplex processing. Auditory cortex involvement was also evident, and together with the latter two brain regions was affected by right-ear advantage. CONCLUSIONS: Duplex perception resulting from fusion of spatially separate sounds forming an auditory object results in activation of a network of brain regions reflecting enhanced allocation of attention and the effect of language processing.

Acoustic Stimulation↗

Auditory middle latency evoked responses: a standardizing study.

UNLABELLED: The presence of auditory middle latency evoked responses allows us to make an evaluation of the peripheral and central auditory system integrity , as well as the nucleus and auditory ways existing until the level of the thalamus-cortical region and primary auditory cortex. AIM: Our objective is to evaluate the presence or not of this numerous peaks, as well as, their latencies and intervals and extend to make a standardizing study. WAY OF STUDY: Contemporary study of Coorte with transversal cut and the outline was quantitative, descriptive e non experimental. MATERIAL AND METHOD: Studying several peaks, positives and negatives, caused by the middle latency auditory potentials, in a population of young adults individuals, ranging from 18 to 30 years old, from both genders, with normal hearing. It was used a monoauricular resonant stimulation and a capitation, separately, in both cerebral hemispheres, with surface electrodes. RESULTS: In this research was verified that the analyzed crossings did not present statistically significant results and it was stipulated a pattern from the obtained results. Based on the non-statistical difference found we can affirm that to the Po waves was obtained respectively an average and standard deviation of 12,09 and 1,84; for Na 17,91 and 2,60; for Pa 29,41 and 5,66; for Nb 41,43 and 8,89; to for 51,44 ms e 12,63 and finally to the interval Na-Pa 11,52 and 4,99. CONCLUSION: 1- The presence of the defluxions Po, Na, and Pa was verified in all the registers, whereas the defluxions Nb and Pb were absent in only 06 registers. 2- By having these registers, we evaluated that the inveiglement of these defluxions can be used as a reliable method to detect the average latency of the auditory potentials, by electrical generated activities, possibly in sites located in the thalamus-cortical area, evoked by sonorous stimulation. From that point, we establish a pattern of responses for young ones with normal hearing, helping us with future studies in patients with alterations in the hearing system.

Adolescent↗

The effect of remifentanil on the middle latency auditory evoked response and haemodynamic measurements with and without the stimulus of orotracheal intubation.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: Changes in the middle latency auditory evoked response following the administration of opioids have been shown. However, it remains unclear as to whether these changes are due to a direct depressant effect of opioids on the middle latency auditory evoked response itself, or an indirect effect on account of their action in attenuating central nervous system arousal associated with noxious stimuli. By comparing changes in the middle latency auditory evoked response in intubated and non-intubated patients, receiving saline or remifentanil in different doses, this study attempts to answer this question. METHODS: Fifty-four patients were anaesthetized with isoflurane and nitrous oxide (0.9 MAC) and randomized to 1-6 groups. Groups 1-3 received a bolus injection of either saline 0.9%, low-dose remifentanil (1 microg kg(-1)) or high-dose remifentanil (3 microg kg(-1)) prior to intubation of the trachea. Groups 4-6 were not intubated following the bolus injection. RESULTS: Pa and Nb amplitudes of the middle latency auditory evoked response increased by 82% and 79% with intubation in the saline group (P < 0.005) and these changes were not seen in the patients given remifentanil. There was a significant linear trend for the reduction in Pa and Nb amplitude with increasing remifentanil dose (P < 0.05). In the absence of endotracheal intubation remifentanil had no effect on either the amplitudes or latencies of the waves Pa and Nb and there was no effect of dose. For the haemodynamic measurements remifentanil attenuated the pressor response to intubation (P < 0.001) and had a significant dose-related effect (P < 0.001) in the absence of intubation. CONCLUSIONS: We demonstrated an effect of remifentanil on both the middle latency auditory evoked response and haemodynamic changes to endotracheal intubation. For the non-intubated patients there was only an effect of remifentanil on the haemodynamic measurements. This suggests that remifentanil has an effect on the middle latency auditory evoked response in attenuating the arousal associated with intubation of the trachea but has no effect in the absence of a stimulus.

Adult↗

Shifting and focusing auditory spatial attention.

Auditory spatial attention was investigated by manipulating spatial and temporal relations between an auditory spatial cue and an auditory target. The principal findings were that performance improved as time available to shift attention to a cued spatial position increased, accurate spatial cues facilitated performance more than inaccurate cues, performance was virtually identical for shifts of attention ranging from 0 degrees and 180 degrees, and performance declined as the distance of an unexpected target from a cued spatial location increased. The experiments provided evidence that auditory attention may be allocated to a specific location in response to an auditory spatial cue and that the time required to shift attention does not appear to depend on the distance of the shift. Furthermore, the findings suggest that the spatial distribution of auditory attention may be described most accurately by a gradient model in which attentional resources decline gradually with distance from a focal point.

Attention↗

Differential effects of auditory and visual signals on clock speed and temporal memory.

The effects of signal modality on duration classification in college students were studied with the duration bisection task. When auditory and visual signals were presented in the same test session and shared common anchor durations, visual signals were classified as shorter than equivalent duration auditory signals. This occurred when auditory and visual signals were presented sequentially in the same test session and when presented simultaneously but asynchronously. Presentation of a single modality signal within a test session, or both modalities but with different anchor durations did not result in classification differences. The authors posit a model in which auditory and visual signals drive an internal clock at different rates. The clock rate difference is due to an attentional effect on the mode switch and is revealed only when the memories for the short and long anchor durations consist of a mix of contributions from accumulations generated by both the fast auditory and slower visual clock rates. When this occurs auditory signals seem longer than visual signals relative to the composite memory representation.

Adult↗

Somatosensory and auditory convergence in the lateral nucleus of the amygdala.

Previous studies have shown that the lateral nucleus of the amygdala (AL) is essential in auditory fear conditioning and that neurons in the AL respond to auditory stimuli. The goals of the present study were to determine whether neurons in the AL are also responsive to somatosensory stimuli and, if so, whether single neurons in the AL respond to both auditory and somatosensory stimulation. Single-unit activity was recorded in the AL in anesthetized rats during the presentation of acoustic (clicks) and somatosensory (footshock) stimuli. Neurons in the dorsal subdivision of the AL responded to both somatosensory and auditory stimuli, whereas neurons in the ventrolateral AL responded only to somatosensory stimuli and neurons in the ventromedial AL did not respond to either stimuli. These findings indicate that the dorsal AL is a site of auditory and somatosensory convergence and may therefore be a locus of convergence of conditioned and unconditioned stimuli in auditory fear conditioning.

Amygdala↗

Transfer of noncorresponding spatial associations to the auditory Simon task.

Four experiments examined transfer of noncorresponding spatial stimulus-response associations to an auditory Simon task for which stimulus location was irrelevant. Experiment 1 established that, for a horizontal auditory Simon task, transfer of spatial associations occurs after 300 trials of practice with an incompatible mapping of auditory stimuli to keypress responses. Experiments 2-4 examined transfer effects within the auditory modality when the stimuli and responses were varied along vertical and horizontal dimensions. Transfer occurred when the stimuli and responses were arrayed along the same dimension in practice and transfer but not when they were arrayed along orthogonal dimensions. These findings indicate that prior task-defined associations have less influence on the auditory Simon effect than on the visual Simon effect, possibly because of the stronger tendency for an auditory stimulus to activate its corresponding response.

Association↗

Disruption of auditory spatial working memory by inactivation of the forebrain archistriatum in barn owls.

Barn owls not only localize auditory stimuli with great accuracy, they also remember the locations of auditory stimuli and can use this remembered spatial information to guide their flight and strike. Although the mechanisms of sound localization have been studied extensively, the neurobiological basis of auditory spatial memory has not. Here we show that the ability of barn owls to orient their gaze towards and fly to the remembered location of auditory targets is lost during pharmacological inactivation of a small region in the forebrain, the anterior archistriatum. In contrast, archistriatal inactivation has no effect on stimulus-guided responses to auditory targets. The memory-dependent deficit is evident only for acoustic events that occur in the hemifield contralateral to the side that is inactivated. The data demonstrate that in the avian archistriatum, as in the mammalian frontal cortex, there exists a region that is essential for the expression of spatial working memory and that, in the barn owl, this region encodes auditory spatial memory.

Animals↗

The optic tectum controls visually guided adaptive plasticity in the owl's auditory space map.

The midbrain contains an auditory map of space that is shaped by visual experience. When barn owls are raised wearing spectacles that horizontally displace the visual field, the auditory space map in the external nucleus of the inferior colliculus (ICX) shifts according to the optical displacement of the prisms. Topographic visual activity in the optic tectum could serve as the template that instructs the auditory space map. We studied the effects of a restricted, unilateral lesion in the portion of the optic tectum that represents frontal space. Here we show that such a lesion eliminates adaptive adjustments specifically in the portion of the auditory map that represents frontal space on the same side of the brain, while the rest of the map continues to adjust adaptively. Thus, activity in the tectum calibrates the auditory space map in a location-specific manner. Because the site of adaptive changes is the ICX, the results also indicate that the tectum provides a topographic instructive signal that controls adaptive auditory plasticity in the ICX.

Adaptation, Physiological↗

Acceleration of visually cued conditioned fear through the auditory pathway.

Defensive responses elicited by sensory experiences are critical for survival. Mice acquire a conditioned fear response rapidly to an auditory cue but slowly to a visual cue, a difference in learned behavior that is likely to be mediated by direct projections to the lateral amygdala from the auditory thalamus but mainly indirect ones from the visual thalamus. Here, we show that acquisition of visually cued conditioned fear is accelerated in 'rewired' mice that have retinal projections routed to the auditory thalamus. Visual stimuli induce expression of the immediate early gene Fos (also known as c-fos) in the auditory thalamus and the lateral amygdala in rewired mice, similar to the way auditory stimuli do in control mice. Thus, the rewired auditory pathway conveys visual information and mediates rapid activity-dependent plasticity in central structures that influence learned behavior.

Amygdala↗

Visual stimuli activate auditory cortex in the deaf.

Previous brain imaging studies have demonstrated responses to tactile and auditory stimuli in visual cortex of blind subjects, suggesting that removal of one sensory modality leads to neural reorganization of the remaining modalities. To investigate whether similar 'cross-modal' plasticity occurs in human auditory cortex, we used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to measure visually evoked activity in auditory areas of both early-deafened and hearing individuals. Here we find that deaf subjects exhibit activation in a region of the right auditory cortex, corresponding to Brodmann's areas 42 and 22, as well as in area 41 (primary auditory cortex), demonstrating that early deafness results in the processing of visual stimuli in auditory cortex.

Adult↗

Intrinsic connectivity of human auditory areas: a tracing study with DiI.

The human supratemporal plane contains the primary as well as several other auditory areas. We have investigated the intrinsic connectivity of these areas by means of antero- and retrograde labelling with the carbocyanin dye DiI (1,1'-dioctadecyl-3,3,3',3'-tetramethylindocarbocyanine perchlorate). A total of 30 injections was placed in both hemispheres of four freshly fixed postmortem brains. Labelled neurons and axons were found in cortex around the injection. The retrograde labelling varied from faint to Golgi-like; most of the retrograde labelled neurons were layers II-III pyramids and only a few were nonpyramidal neurons. Labelled axons were dense in all layers near the injection site, while they became relatively rare in layer IV further away. The tangential spread of labelling differed among auditory areas. On Heschl's gyrus (corresponding to the primary auditory cortex and cytoarchitectonic areas TD and part of TB) intrinsic connectivity involved a relatively narrow part of cortex. They spread over larger parts of cortex in plana polare and temporale (areas TG, TA and the remaining part of TB). A number of injections also produced anisotropic labelling patterns. These results reveal differences in intrinsic connectivity between auditory areas. They suggest that intrinsic connections within the primary auditory area, area TD and part of TB that is on Heschl's gyrus, involve mainly nearby units or modules, probably with similar coding properties, whereas in surrounding areas, connections spread over more distant units and may play an important role in the integration of different auditory features.

Aged↗

Dopamine inhibition of auditory nerve activity in the adult mammalian cochlea.

Efferent feedback systems provide a means for modulating the input to the central nervous system. The lateral olivocochlear efferents modulate auditory nerve activity via synapses with afferent dendrites below sensory inner hair cells. We examined the effects of dopamine, one of the lateral olivocochlear neurotransmitters, by recording compound and single unit activity from the auditory nerve in adult guinea pigs. Intracochlear application of dopamine reduced the compound action potential (CAP) of the auditory nerve, increased the thresholds and decreased the spontaneous and driven discharge rates of the single unit fibres without changing their frequency-tuning properties. Surprisingly, dopamine antagonists SCH-23390 and eticlopride decreased CAP amplitude as did dopamine. In some units, both SCH-23390 and eticlopride increased the basal activity of auditory nerve fibres leading to an improvement of threshold sensitivity and a decrease of the maximum driven discharge rates to sound. In other units, the increase in firing rate was immediately followed by a marked reduction to values below predrug rates. Because CAP reflects the summed activity of auditory nerve fibres discharging in synchrony, both the decrease in sound-driven discharge rate and the postexcitatory reduction account for the reduction in CAP. Ultrastructural examination of the cochleas perfused with eticlopride showed that some of the afferent dendrites were swollen, suggesting that the marked reduction in firing rate may reflect early signs of excitotoxicity. Results suggest that dopamine may exert a tonic inhibition of the auditory nerve activity. Removal of this tonic inhibition results in the development of early signs of excitotoxicity.

Acoustic Stimulation↗

A comparison of auditory and visual apparent motion presented individually and with crossmodal moving distractors.

Unimodal auditory and visual apparent motion (AM) and bimodal audiovisual AM were investigated to determine the effects of crossmodal integration on motion perception and direction-of-motion discrimination in each modality. To determine the optimal stimulus onset asynchrony (SOA) ranges for motion perception and direction discrimination, we initially measured unimodal visual and auditory AMs using one of four durations (50, 100, 200, or 400 ms) and ten SOAs (40-450 ms). In the bimodal conditions, auditory and visual AM were measured in the presence of temporally synchronous, spatially displaced distractors that were either congruent (moving in the same direction) or conflicting (moving in the opposite direction) with respect to target motion. Participants reported whether continuous motion was perceived and its direction. With unimodal auditory and visual AM, motion perception was affected differently by stimulus duration and SOA in the two modalities, while the opposite was observed for direction of motion. In the bimodal audiovisual AM condition, discriminating the direction of motion was affected only in the case of an auditory target. The perceived direction of auditory but not visual AM was reduced to chance levels when the crossmodal distractor direction was conflicting. Conversely, motion perception was unaffected by the distractor direction and, in some cases, the mere presence of a distractor facilitated movement perception.

Acoustic Stimulation↗

Plasticity of the cochleotopic (frequency) map in specialized and nonspecialized auditory cortices.

Auditory conditioning (associative learning) causes reorganization of the cochleotopic (frequency) maps of the primary auditory cortex (AI) and the inferior colliculus. Focal electric stimulation of the AI also evokes basically the same cortical and collicular reorganization as that caused by conditioning. Therefore, part of the neural mechanism for the plasticity of the central auditory system caused by conditioning can be explored by focal electric stimulation of the AI. The reorganization is due to shifts in best frequencies (BFs) together with shifts in frequency-tuning curves of single neurons. In the AI of the Mongolian gerbil (Meriones unguiculatus) and the posterior division of the AI of the mustached bat (Pteronotus parnellii), focal electric stimulation evokes BF shifts of cortical auditory neurons located within a 0.7-mm distance along the frequency axis. The amount and direction of BF shift differ depending on the relationship in BF between stimulated and recorded neurons, and between the gerbil and mustached bat. Comparison in BF shift between different mammalian species and between different cortical areas of a single species indicates that BF shift toward the BF of electrically stimulated cortical neurons (centripetal BF shift) is common in the AI, whereas BF shift away from the BF of electrically stimulated cortical neurons (centrifugal BF shift) is special. Therefore, we propose a hypothesis that reorganization, and accordingly organization, of cortical auditory areas caused by associative learning can be quite different between specialized and nonspecialized (ordinary) areas of the auditory cortex.

Animals↗

Song-selective auditory circuits in the vocal control system of the zebra finch.

Birdsong is a learned behavior controlled by a distinct set of brain nuclei. The song nuclei known as area X, the medial nucleus of the dorsolateral thalamus (DLM), and the lateral magnocellular nucleus of the anterior neostriatum (L-MAN) form a pathway that plays an important but unknown role in song learning. One function served by this circuit might be auditory feedback, which is critical to normal song development. We used single unit recordings to demonstrate that all three of these nuclei contain auditory neurons in adult male zebra finches (Taeniopygia guttata). These neurons are song selective: they respond more robustly to the bird's own song than to songs of conspecific individuals, and they are sensitive to the temporal structure of song. Auditory neurons so highly specialized for song within a pathway required for song learning may play a role in the auditory feedback essential in song development. Recordings in the robust nucleus of the archistriatum (RA), the nucleus to which L-MAN projects, showed that RA also contains highly song-selective neurons. RA receives a direct projection from the caudal nucleus of the ventral hyperstriatum (HVc) as well as from L-MAN. We investigated the contributions of these two inputs to auditory responses of RA neurons by selectively inactivating one or both inputs. Our results suggest that there is a song-selective pathway directly from HVc to RA in addition to the circuit via L-MAN. Thus the songbird brain contains multiple auditory pathways specialized for song, and these circuits may vary in their functional importance at different stages of learning.

Acoustic Stimulation↗