Action of acetylcholine on cochlear responses

The role of medial olivocochlear activity in contralateral suppression of auditory steady-state responses

OBJECTIVE

The auditory steady-state response (ASSR) amplitudes fall in the presence of contralateral noise. However, whether and to what extent medial olivocochlear (MOC) activity involves in contralateral suppression of ASSR remain unclear. Therefore, we assess the role of MOC activity in contralateral suppression of ASSR.

METHODS

Mice were treated with strychnine to completely eliminate MOC activity and then measured ASSR amplitudes in the presence of contralateral noise.

RESULTS

The contralateral noise reduces ASSR amplitudes at some stimulus intensity. After treating with the strychnine to eliminate MOC activity, ASSR amplitudes recovered again.

CONCLUSIONS

MOC activity participated in contralateral suppression of ASSR.

A novel effect of cochlear efferents: in vivo response enhancement does not require alpha9 cholinergic receptors

Outer hair cells in the mammalian cochlea receive a cholinergic efferent innervation that constitutes the effector arm of a sound-evoked negative feedback loop. The well-studied suppressive effects of acetylcholine (ACh) release from efferent terminals are mediated by alpha9/alpha10 ACh receptors and are potently blocked by strychnine. Here, we report a novel, efferent-mediated enhancement of cochlear sound-evoked neural responses and otoacoustic emissions in mice. In controls, a slow enhancement of response amplitude to supranormal levels appears after recovery from the classic suppressive effects seen during a 70-s epoch of efferent shocks. The magnitude of post-shock enhancement can be as great as 10 dB and tends to be greater for high-frequency acoustic stimuli. Systemic strychnine at 10 mg/kg eliminates efferent-induced suppression, revealing a purely enhancing effect of efferent shocks, which peaks within 5 s after efferent-stimulation onset, maintains a constant level through the stimulation epoch, and slowly decays back to baseline with a time constant of approximately 100 s. In mice with targeted deletion of the alpha9 ACh receptor subunit, efferent-evoked effects resemble those in wild types with strychnine blockade, further showing that this novel efferent effect is fundamentally different from all cholinergic effects previously reported.

Diode pump cochlear audition theory three dimensional model

A three dimensional model of the cochlea is developed that pumps activated fluid through the tectorial gap of the organ of Corti. The activated fluid generates neural pulses at specific locations along the cochlear duct which are related to specific simple tonal inputs. A computer program, based on an electrical analog of the model, calculates matrices of the transfer factors for section elements in the model and for a range of sound input frequencies. Using these matrices, the program calculates the neural output for a variety of complex sound inputs into the model and compares the calculated output to experimental measurements on actual cochlea. Differences and similarities between the audition model and a proposed vision model are discussed.

Histochemical study of the efferent nervous system in the guinea pig inner ear

The efferent nervous system of the guinea pig inner ear is histochemically investigated. Remarkable activity of alkaline phosphatase and acetylcholinesterase is demonstrated by Burstone's (1958) azo dye method and Koelle's (1949) method as modified by Gomori (1952) respectively. The distribution pattern of both enzymes in the efferent nervous system is entirely similar. The intraganglionic spiral bundles, fascicles of the osseous spiral lamina and efferent plexus of the organ of Corti reacted intensely for both enzymes. Afferent nerve fibers give no histochemical reaction for both alkaline phosphatase and acetylcholinesterase. However, spiral and vestibular ganglion cells are rich in both enzymes, though they belong to the afferent nervous system. The significance of both enzymes in the nervous system of the guinea pig inner ear is briefly discussed.

Centrifugal inhibitory processes affecting neurones in the cat cochlear nucleus

1. Stimulation of the lateral part of the olivary S-segment in the cat inhibited neurones in the ipsilateral cochlear nucleus. A smaller number of neurones located in the ventral division of the cochlear nucleus were excited.2. It is suggested that inhibition in the ipsilateral cochlear nucleus may be mediated directly by fibres making synaptic connexions on the cochlear nucleus neurones, or indirectly by inhibitory fibres acting at the cochlea.3. The direct inhibitory process at the cochlear nucleus is unaffected by strychnine, whereas the inhibitory process at the cochlea is abolished by strychnine.4. A cochlear nucleus neurone can be influenced simultaneously by excitatory and inhibitory processes.

Microinjections of tubocurarine, leptazol, strychnine and picrotoxin into the cerebral cortex of anaesthetized cats

1. In cats anaesthetized with intravenous chloralose, microinjections of tubocurarine, leptazol, strychnine or picrotoxin, in a volume of 1 mul, were made into the grey matter of the cerebral cortex and the electrical activity was recorded from the site of injection with the microinjection cannula which, insulated except at its tip, served as recording electrode.2. Routinely the injections were made into the gyrus splenialis or into the underlying gyrus cinguli close to the mid-line, because the injections would then most likely be in grey and not in white matter. Injected in this way all four drugs set up foci of excitation which gave rise to synchronous firing of a large number of neurones with the result that high voltage negative spikes were recorded from the microinjection cannula.3. On injection into the gyrus splenialis the threshold dose was about 0.04 mug for picrotoxin, about 0.2 mug for tubocurarine, about 5 mug for strychnine and 25 to 50 mug for leptazol. Following the injection of larger doses the spike discharge continued for a few hours after picrotoxin and tubocurarine, for over an hour after strychnine, but for a few minutes only after leptazol. On injection into the gyrus cinguli the threshold doses were slightly greater and with larger doses the spikes occurred at greater frequency but were of lower voltage than in the gyrus splenialis.4. With large doses of picrotoxin injected into the gyrus splenialis the spikes developed an after-positivity and an after-discharge which sometimes passed into a short period of fast activity.5. The foci of excitation set up by the drugs were restricted to the site of injection because on raising or lowering the microinjection cannula the spikes recorded from it quickly decreased in voltage and then disappeared. When the injections were made close to a sulcus and the microinjection cannula, on being lowered, traversed the sulcus, the spikes changed their polarity.6. The spike discharge appears to be a consistent response to the injections of the drugs into grey matter of any part of the cerebral cortex since it was also obtained on their injection into the pyriform cortex, amygdala and area retrolimbica anterior, but not on their injection into white matter or caudate nucleus, thalamus or hypothalamus.

Inhibition of auditory nerve action potentials by acetylcholine and physostigmine

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Tetraethylammonium and tetrodotoxin: effects on cochlear potentials

Tetraethylammonium chloride, which is believed to decrease potassium conductance, and tetrodotoxin, which apparently decreases sodium conductance in nerve fibers, were introduced iontophoretically into the organ of Corti or the scala media of guinea pig cochlea. The former depressed the direct-current endocochlear potential and also the alternating-current cochlear microphonics (the receptor potential of the ear), but tetrodotoxin was ineffective except on the nerve impulses.