What question did this study set out to answer?

To determine whether early developmental monaural occlusion causes adaptive physiological plasticity in the posterior ventral nucleus of the lateral lemniscus (VLVp), the initial site of binaural intensity comparison.

December 1, 1994Journal of Neurophysiology

Site of auditory plasticity in the brain stem (VLVp) of the owl revealed by early monaural occlusion

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Authors

JMJoachim MogdansUniversity of Bonn EKEric I. KnudsenRoswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center

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Implication

Electrophysiological study reveals brain stem plasticity in monaurally occluded barn owls, indicating multiple ascending stations adaptively shift auditory space representations.

Key Points

To determine whether early developmental monaural occlusion causes adaptive physiological plasticity in the posterior ventral nucleus of the lateral lemniscus (VLVp), the initial site of binaural intensity comparison.
Reared barn owls from 4 weeks of age with unilateral ear occlusion, removing plugs 8 to 16 weeks later for neurophysiological testing.
Performed single- and multi-unit electrophysiological recordings in the optic tectum and bilateral VLVps under ketamine anesthesia using dichotic sound stimulation (N=8 owls).
Compared interaural level difference (ILD) tuning shifts in the optic tectum with balance alterations in excitatory-ear and inhibitory-ear responses across both VLVps.
Six of eight owls showed an adaptive shift in the balance of excitatory and inhibitory inputs in the VLVp, with three exhibiting clear adaptive differences mediated specifically by altered inhibitory tuning.
Two of eight owls showed no detectable adjustment in the VLVp despite presenting substantial adaptive ILD shifts in the optic tectum.
The adaptive shift in ILD coding within the VLVp was consistently smaller than that observed in the optic tectum, demonstrating that additional plasticity occurs higher in the auditory pathway.

Cite This Study

Mogdans et al. (1994) studied this question.

synapsesocial.com/papers/6a911f645730a89ab2cafa8f https://doi.org/10.1152/jn.1994.72.6.2875

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Implication

Electrophysiological study reveals brain stem plasticity in monaurally occluded barn owls, indicating multiple ascending stations adaptively shift auditory space representations.

Site of auditory plasticity in the brain stem (VLVp) of the owl revealed by early monaural occlusion

Discussion

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Implication

Key Points

Cite This Study

Site of auditory plasticity in the brain stem (VLVp) of the owl revealed by early monaural occlusion

Discussion

Member takes

Implication

Key Points

Cite This Study

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