Fei-Jian Wu

Preceding weak noise sharpens the frequency tuning and elevates the response threshold of the mouse inferior collicular neurons through GABAergic inhibition.

In acoustic communication, animals must extract biologically relevant signals that are embedded in noisy environment. The present study examines how weak noise may affect the auditory sensitivity of neurons in the central nucleus of the mouse inferior colliculus (IC) which receives convergent excitatory and inhibitory inputs from both lower and higher auditory centers. Specifically, we studied the frequency sensitivity and minimum threshold of IC neurons using a pure tone probe and a weak white noise masker under forward masking paradigm. For most IC neurons, probe-elicited response was decreased by a weak white noise that was presented at a specific gap (i.e. time window). When presented within this time window, weak noise masking sharpened the frequency tuning curve and increased the minimum threshold of IC neurons. The degree of weak noise masking of these two measurements increased with noise duration. Sharpening of the frequency tuning curve and increasing of the minimum threshold of IC neurons during weak noise masking were mostly mediated through GABAergic inhibition. In addition, sharpening of frequency tuning curve by the weak noise masker was more effective at the high than at low frequency limb. These data indicate that in the real world the ambient noise may improve frequency sensitivity of IC neurons through GABAergic inhibition while inevitably decrease the frequency response range and sensitivity of IC neurons.

The recovery cycle of bat duration-selective collicular neurons varies with hunting phase.

During hunting, duration selectivity and recovery cycle underlie a bats ability to determine echo duration and target distance (echo ranging). This study shows that the recovery cycle of most duration-selective neurons in the bat central nucleus of the inferior colliculus neurons varies with biologically relevant pulse–echo (P–E) duration and amplitude. As such, neurons with short best duration recover rapidly when stimulated with P–E pairs with short duration and small P–E amplitude difference, whereas neurons with long best duration recover rapidly when stimulated with P–E pairs with long duration and large P–E amplitude difference. These data indicate that different groups of duration-selective neurons underlie the bats ability to effectively perform echo recognition and ranging during different phases of hunting.

Role of frequency band integration in sharpening frequency tunings of the inferior colliculus neurons in the big brown bat,Eptesicus fuscus

By means of a particular two-tone stimulation paradigm in combination of using a pair of electrodes for simultaneously recording from two inferior colliculus (IC) neurons, the currentin vivo study is undertaken to explore the role of frequency band integration (FBI) in sharpening of frequency tuning in the big brown bat,Eptesicus fuscus. Three major results are found: (1) The paired neurons correlated to FBI are located not only within the same frequency filter bandwidth (FFB), but also across different FFBs. The relations of their frequency tuning curves (FTCs) are mainly of two types: the flank-overlapped and overlaid patterns. (2) Although the sharpness of FTCs between paired neurons is mutual, the sharpening efficiency of neurons located within the same FFB is higher than that of neurons across FFBs, and the FTCs of neurons with the best frequencies (BF) of 20 –30 kHz are most strongly sharpened. (3) The strength of FBI is weak near the BF but gradually increased with frequencies away from the BF of sound stimuli. This suggests that the dynamical FBI of the IC neurons located within and across the FFBs might be involved in the formation of functional FFB structures.

Involvement of GABA-mediated inhibition in shaping the frequency selectivity of neurons in the inferior colliculus of the big brown bat, Eptesicus fuscus.

In central auditory signal processing, neural inhibition plays an important role in sharpening the selectivity of auditory neurons. The present study examines the involvement of GABA-mediated inhibition in shaping the frequency selectivity of neurons in the bat inferior colliculus (IC) using forward masking paradigm and bicuculline application. At each study session, we recorded two IC neurons with a pair of electrodes and reciprocally studied whether a sound that served as a probe to elicit response of one neuron might serve as a masker to affect the frequency tuning curve (FTC) of the other paired neuron. Among the 33 pairs of IC neurons recorded, this forward masking paradigm produces sharpening of the FTC in 29 (88%) pairs of IC neurons and broadening of the FTC in 4 (12%) pairs of IC neurons. The degree of sharpening of FTC decreases with recording depth as well as with the difference in the best frequency and recording depth between each pair of IC neurons. Although bicuculline application broadens the FTC of all IC neurons, forward masking still produces sharpening of the FTC in most IC neurons. These data suggest that population of IC neurons are highly correlated during frequency analysis such that frequency selectivity of some groups of IC neurons is improved through inhibition while the spectrum of frequency sensitivity of other groups of IC neurons is enhanced through excitation. Biological significance of these data relevant to acoustic signal processing is discussed.