Journal of Neurophysiology, Vol 62, Issue 6 1303-1329, Copyright © 1989 by APS

ARTICLES

Classification of unit types in the anteroventral cochlear nucleus: PST histograms and regularity analysis

C. C. Blackburn and M. B. Sachs
Center for Hearing Sciences, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland 21205.

1. The responses of neurons in the anteroventral cochlear nucleus (AVCN) of barbiturate-anesthetized cats are characterized with regard to features of their responses to short tone bursts (STBs; 25 ms). A "decision tree" is presented to partition AVCN units on the basis of post-stimulus time histogram (PSTH) shape, first spike latency, and discharge rate and regularity calculated as functions of time during responses to STBs. The major classes of AVCN units (primary-like, primary-like-with-notch, chopper, and onset) have been described previously; in this paper, special attention is given to clarifying and systematizing boundaries between classes. Certain types of "unusual" units that may be confused with units in one of the major classes are also examined. 2. When STBs are presented synchronously (constant phase at onset), PSTHs of responses to very-low-frequency (less than 1.0 kHz) tones are difficult if not impossible to resolve into the classes listed above because all unit types phase-lock to low-frequency tones. However, when STBs are presented asynchronously, the responses of units with low best frequencies can be categorized on the basis of PSTH shape and first spike latency. 3. Primary-like, primary-like-with-notch, and onset units are distinguished primarily on the basis of PSTH shape. These three unit types have comparable minimum first spke latencies and synchronization to tones. One type of "unusual" response poses a particular hazard with respect to the generation of uncontaminated primary-like populations. Such "unusual" units have PSTHs that appear primary-like; these units are, however, distinguished by their unusually long first spike latencies. Unlike primary-like units, these "unusual" units show extremely poor synchronization to tones. 4. Chopper units are defined as having an initial response that is highly regular, resulting in the characteristic multimodal PSTH. "Unusual" units with multimodal PSTHs but whose initial responses are not highly regular (measured by the reproducibility of the initial firing pattern in response to multiple repetitions of a STB) are eliminated from the chopper populations. 5. In barbiturate-anesthetized cats, at least three patterns of chopper response can be distinguished on the basis of temporal patterns of rate and regularity adaptation. "Sustained" choppers show no adaptation of instantaneous rate (measured by the inverse of the mean interspike interval), and their discharge remains highly regular throughout the response. "Transiently adapting" choppers undergo a very rapid (less than 10 ms) decrease in instantaneous rate accompanied by a sharp increase in discharge irregularity.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)

This article has been cited by other articles:

				Y. Gai and L. H. Carney Influence of Inhibitory Inputs on Rate and Timing of Responses in the Anteroventral Cochlear Nucleus J Neurophysiol, March 1, 2008; 99(3): 1077 - 1095. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				B. J. Malone, B. H. Scott, and M. N. Semple Dynamic Amplitude Coding in the Auditory Cortex of Awake Rhesus Macaques J Neurophysiol, September 1, 2007; 98(3): 1451 - 1474. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				K. L. Johnson, T. G. Nicol, S. G. Zecker, and N. Kraus Auditory brainstem correlates of perceptual timing deficits. J. Cogn. Neurosci., March 1, 2007; 19(3): 376 - 385. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				P. C. Nelson and L. H. Carney Neural Rate and Timing Cues for Detection and Discrimination of Amplitude-Modulated Tones in the Awake Rabbit Inferior Colliculus J Neurophysiol, January 1, 2007; 97(1): 522 - 539. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				Y. Gai and L. H. Carney Temporal Measures and Neural Strategies for Detection of Tones in Noise Based on Responses in Anteroventral Cochlear Nucleus J Neurophysiol, November 1, 2006; 96(5): 2451 - 2464. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				A. R. A. Rodrigues and D. Oertel Hyperpolarization-Activated Currents Regulate Excitability in Stellate Cells of the Mammalian Ventral Cochlear Nucleus J Neurophysiol, January 1, 2006; 95(1): 76 - 87. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				X. Zhang and L. H. Carney Response Properties of an Integrate-and-Fire Model That Receives Subthreshold Inputs Neural Comput., December 1, 2005; 17(12): 2571 - 2601. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				D. J. Tollin and T. C. T. Yin Interaural Phase and Level Difference Sensitivity in Low-Frequency Neurons in the Lateral Superior Olive J. Neurosci., November 16, 2005; 25(46): 10648 - 10657. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				P. X. Joris, B. Van De Sande, and M. van der Heijden Temporal Damping in Response to Broadband Noise. I. Inferior Colliculus J Neurophysiol, April 1, 2005; 93(4): 1857 - 1870. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				D. H. G. Louage, M. van der Heijden, and P. X. Joris Enhanced Temporal Response Properties of Anteroventral Cochlear Nucleus Neurons to Broadband Noise J. Neurosci., February 9, 2005; 25(6): 1560 - 1570. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				A. M. Taberner and M. C. Liberman Response Properties of Single Auditory Nerve Fibers in the Mouse J Neurophysiol, January 1, 2005; 93(1): 557 - 569. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				A. G. Paolini, J. C. Clarey, K. Needham, and G. M. Clark Fast Inhibition Alters First Spike Timing in Auditory Brainstem Neurons J Neurophysiol, October 1, 2004; 92(4): 2615 - 2621. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				D. H. G. Louage, M. van der Heijden, and P. X. Joris Temporal Properties of Responses to Broadband Noise in the Auditory Nerve J Neurophysiol, May 1, 2004; 91(5): 2051 - 2065. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				K. Needham and A. G. Paolini Fast Inhibition Underlies the Transmission of Auditory Information between Cochlear Nuclei J. Neurosci., July 16, 2003; 23(15): 6357 - 6361. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				J. S. Rothman and P. B. Manis The Roles Potassium Currents Play in Regulating the Electrical Activity of Ventral Cochlear Nucleus Neurons J Neurophysiol, June 1, 2003; 89(6): 3097 - 3113. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				C. Kopp-Scheinpflug, S. Dehmel, G. J. Dorrscheidt, and R. Rubsamen Interaction of Excitation and Inhibition in Anteroventral Cochlear Nucleus Neurons That Receive Large Endbulb Synaptic Endings J. Neurosci., December 15, 2002; 22(24): 11004 - 11018. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				L. Liang, T. Lu, and X. Wang Neural Representations of Sinusoidal Amplitude and Frequency Modulations in the Primary Auditory Cortex of Awake Primates J Neurophysiol, May 1, 2002; 87(5): 2237 - 2261. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				K. E. Hancock and H. F. Voigt Intracellularly Labeled Fusiform Cells in Dorsal Cochlear Nucleus of the Gerbil. I. Physiological Response Properties J Neurophysiol, May 1, 2002; 87(5): 2505 - 2519. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				M. C. Brown Response Adaptation of Medial Olivocochlear Neurons Is Minimal J Neurophysiol, November 1, 2001; 86(5): 2381 - 2392. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				K. Fujino and D. Oertel Cholinergic Modulation of Stellate Cells in the Mammalian Ventral Cochlear Nucleus J. Neurosci., September 15, 2001; 21(18): 7372 - 7383. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				D. Pressnitzer, R. Meddis, R. Delahaye, and I. M. Winter Physiological Correlates of Comodulation Masking Release in the Mammalian Ventral Cochlear Nucleus J. Neurosci., August 15, 2001; 21(16): 6377 - 6386. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				D. C. Fitzpatrick and S. Kuwada Tuning to Interaural Time Differences across Frequency J. Neurosci., July 1, 2001; 21(13): 4844 - 4851. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				L. Wiegrebe and I. M. Winter Temporal Representation of Iterated Rippled Noise as a Function of Delay and Sound Level in the Ventral Cochlear Nucleus J Neurophysiol, March 1, 2001; 85(3): 1206 - 1219. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				R. Batra and D. C. Fitzpatrick Discharge Patterns of Neurons in the Ventral Nucleus of the Lateral Lemniscus of the Unanesthetized Rabbit J Neurophysiol, September 1, 1999; 82(3): 1097 - 1113. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				G. A. Spirou, K. A. Davis, I. Nelken, and E. D. Young Spectral Integration by Type II Interneurons in Dorsal Cochlear Nucleus J Neurophysiol, August 1, 1999; 82(2): 648 - 663. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				W. P. Shofner Responses of Cochlear Nucleus Units in the Chinchilla to Iterated Rippled Noises: Analysis of Neural Autocorrelograms J Neurophysiol, June 1, 1999; 81(6): 2662 - 2674. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				A. G. Paolini and G. M. Clark Intracellular Responses of Onset Chopper Neurons in the Ventral Cochlear Nucleus to Tones: Evidence for Dual-Component Processing J Neurophysiol, May 1, 1999; 81(5): 2347 - 2359. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				D. A. Bodnar and A. H. Bass Midbrain Combinatorial Code for Temporal and Spectral Information in Concurrent Acoustic Signals J Neurophysiol, February 1, 1999; 81(2): 552 - 563. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				B. J. May, G. S. L. Prell, and M. B. Sachs Vowel Representations in the Ventral Cochlear Nucleus of the Cat: Effects of Level, Background Noise, and Behavioral State J Neurophysiol, April 1, 1998; 79(4): 1755 - 1767. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				L. H. Carney and M. Friedman Spatiotemporal Tuning of Low-Frequency Cells in the Anteroventral Cochlear Nucleus J. Neurosci., February 1, 1998; 18(3): 1096 - 1104. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				M. J. Ferragamo, N. L. Golding, and D. Oertel Synaptic Inputs to Stellate Cells in the Ventral Cochlear Nucleus J Neurophysiol, January 1, 1998; 79(1): 51 - 63. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				P. X. Joris and T. C. T. Yin Envelope Coding in the Lateral Superior Olive. III. Comparison With Afferent Pathways J Neurophysiol, January 1, 1998; 79(1): 253 - 269. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				R. Batra, S. Kuwada, and D. C. Fitzpatrick Sensitivity to Interaural Temporal Disparities of Low- and High-Frequency Neurons in the Superior Olivary Complex. I. Heterogeneity of Responses J Neurophysiol, September 1, 1997; 78(3): 1222 - 1236. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				A. Rees, A. Sarbaz, M. S. Malmierca, and F. E. N. Le Beau Regularity of Firing of Neurons in the Inferior Colliculus J Neurophysiol, June 1, 1997; 77(6): 2945 - 2965. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]