Neural inhibition sharpens auditory spatial selectivity of bat inferior collicular neurons

This study examines the role of neural inhibition in auditory spatial selectivity of inferior collicular neurons of the big brown bat, Eptesicus fuscus, using a two-tone inhibition paradigm. Two-tone inhibition decreases auditory spatial response areas but increases the slopes of directional sensitivity curves of inferior collicular neurons. Inferior collicular neurons have either directionally-selective or hemifield directional sensitivity curves. A directionally-selective curve always has a peak which is at least 50% larger than the minimum. A hemifield directional sensitivity curve rises from an ipsilateral angle by more than 50% and either reaches a plateau or declines by less than 50% over a range of contralateral angles. Two-tone inhibition does not change directionally-selective curves but changes most hemifield directional sensitivity curves into directionally-selective curves. Auditory spatial selectivity determined both with and without two-tone inhibition increases with increasing best-excitatory frequency. Sharpening of auditory spatial selectivity by two-tone inhibition is larger for neurons with smaller differences between excitatory and inhibitory best frequencies. The effect of two-tone inhibition on auditory spatial selectivity increases with increasing inhibitory tone intensity but decreases with increasing intertone interval. The implications of these findings in bat echolocation are discussed. Accepted: 18 January 2000     

Neural correlates of behavioral gap detection in the inferior colliculus of the young CBA mouse

The gap detection paradigm is frequently used in psychoacoustics to characterize the temporal acuity of the auditory system. Neural responses to silent gaps embedded in white-noise carriers, were obtained from mouse inferior colliculus (IC) neurons and the results compared to behavioral estimates of gap detection. Neural correlates of gap detection were obtained from 78 single neurons located in the central nucleus of the IC. Minimal gap thresholds (MGTs) were computed from single-unit gap functions and were found to be comparable, 1–2 ms, to the behavioral gap threshold (2 ms). There was no difference in MGTs for units in which both carrier intensities were collected. Single unit responses were classified based on temporal discharge patterns to steady-state noise bursts. Onset and primary-like units had the shortest mean MGTs (2.0 ms), followed by sustained units (4.0 ms) and phasic-off units (4.2 ms). The longest MGTs were obtained for inhibitory neurons (xˉ = 14 ms). Finally, the time-course of behavioral and neurophysiological gap functions were found to be in good agreement. The results of the present study indicate the neural code necessary for behavioral gap detection is present in the temporal discharge patterns of the majority of IC neurons. Accepted: 6 February 1997     

Development of gabaergic connections in vitro: Increasing efficacy of synaptic transmission is not accompanied by changes in miniature currents

Development of inhibitory synaptic transmission was studied using a dissociated cell culture from the superior colliculus of neonatal rat. Patch-clamp recordings in the whole-cell configuration were performed to measure evoked (single-cell-activated) inhibitory postsynaptic currents (IPSCs), miniature IPSCs and current responses to maximal concentrations of exogenous γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA). Over a period of 3 weeks in vitro (DIV3-24), the fraction of synaptically coupled neurons raised from 0% to 76%. Evoked IPSCs were first observed at DIV5. They had an average amplitude of 33.9 pA during the first week (n = 13) and 129.7 pA during the fourth week (n = 48). This increase by a factor of 3.8 represents a significant rise in the efficacy of GABAergic transmission during in vitro development. However, no developmental change has been observed in the average amplitudes of miniature somatic IPSCs. The latter remained at an average level of about 9 pA (symmetrical chloride concentration and a driving force of 68 mV). No increase was found also in whole-cell current densities induced by saturating concentrations of exogenous GABA. Our results suggest that under the given conditions, synapse maturation was primarily the result of presynaptic sprouting. This conclusion is further supported by bouton counts in immunostained collicular cultures, where the number of axosomatic and axodendritic GABAergic contacts per neuron increased from 0.54 and 0.37, respectively, at DIV3, to 13.84 and >23.1, at DIV24. The overall density of GABAergic neurons decreased during this period from about 41,000/cm² to 15,600 cm², indicating that a growing number of contacts is formed by a declining number of presynaptic neurons. © 1992 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Deciphering Spatial Protein–Protein Interactions in Brain Using Proximity Labeling

Cellular biomolecular complexes including protein–protein, protein–RNA, and protein–DNA interactions regulate and execute most biological functions. In particular in brain, protein–protein interactions (PPIs) mediate or regulate virtually all nerve cell functions, such as neurotransmission, cell–cell communication, neurogenesis, synaptogenesis, and synaptic plasticity. Perturbations of PPIs in specific subsets of neurons and glia are thought to underly a majority of neurobiological disorders. Therefore, understanding biological functions at a cellular level requires a reasonably complete catalog of all physical interactions between proteins. An enzyme-catalyzed method to biotinylate proximal interacting proteins within 10 to 300 nm of each other is being increasingly used to characterize the spatiotemporal features of complex PPIs in brain. Thus, proximity labeling has emerged recently as a powerful tool to identify proteomes in distinct cell types in brain as well as proteomes and PPIs in structures difficult to isolate, such as the synaptic cleft, axonal projections, or astrocyte–neuron junctions. In this review, we summarize recent advances in proximity labeling methods and their application to neurobiology.     

菲菊头蝠回声定位信号特征及下丘神经元频率调谐

研究了菲菊头蝠自由飞行状态下的回声定位信号和下丘神经元的声反应特性。菲菊头蝠在自由飞行时发射的CF/FM型回声定位叫声含2-3个谐波,主频为105.3±1.7kHz,时程为39.5±9.6ms,脉冲间隔为73.9±16.0ms。在所记录到的159个下丘神经元中,E型(Echolocation)神经元为32.7%(52/159),其中CF1型(Constantfrequency)占11.3%(18/159),FM1型(Frequencymodulated)占20.1%(32/159),FM2型占1.3%(2/159);NE型(Nonecholocation)神经元的比例为67.3%(107/159)。这些神经元的最佳频率(Bestfrequency,BF)与记录深度之间存在线性关系(r=0.9471,P<0.01)。E型神经元的深度范围为349-1855(1027.5±351.6)μm,阈值范围为6-74(43.1±14.5)dBSPL,潜伏期范围为10.0-26.0(14.6±3.8)ms。NE型神经元的分别为93.0-1745.0(733.3±290.3)μm、2-70(36.5±23.8)dBSPL、5.0-23.0(13.5±3.7)ms。记录到的53个IC神经元的调谐曲线(Frequencytuningcurve,FTC)均为开放型,51个为单峰型,2个为双峰型。单峰型神经元中大部分为狭窄型(Q10dB>5),占70.6%(36/51),E型神经元全部为狭窄型,Q10dB为10.4±7.1(5.5-31.6),其中CF1型为18.3±11.2(5.5-31.6),FM1型为8.7±4.7(5.5-24.3),FM2型为6.9±0.3(6.7-7.1);NE型神经元既有宽阔型也有狭窄型,Q10dB为6.6±5.1(1.6-25.6)。两个双峰型FTC主、副峰分别偏向高、低频区,高频边对应的是E型神经元。     

Effect of prolonged refractoriness on the forward masking of tone bursts in single units of the mouse inferior colliculus

The estimation of conditional probability was used to demonstrate the effect of the postspike changes in neuron excitability on its response to the second burst in a pair with an interval between bursts ranging from 50 to 200 ms. The responses of the neurons of the inferior colliculus to pairs of low-intensity tone bursts were recorded extracellularly in anesthetized albino mice. The probability of the response to the second burst in a pair was estimated under two conditions: the presence and the absence of a spike in the response to the first burst. If the interval between burst was 50 ms, the probability of response was decreased in most neurons where there was a spike in the response to the first burst. The opposite trend was observed in a small proportion of neurons. If the interval was increased, it weakened the dependence of the response to the second burst on the character of the response to the first one. The suppression of inhibitory inputs by bicuculline emphasized the postspike refractoriness rather than canceled it. The possible mechanisms of the interdependence between the responses to two consecutive signals are discussed.     

猫下丘中央核GABA能神经元年龄相关变化

目的比较研究猫下丘中央核(CIC)GABA能神经元年龄相关变化,探索老年个体听力下降的神经机制。方法Nissl染色显示下丘神经元,免疫组织化学ABC法显示γ-氨基丁酸(GABA)免疫阳性神经元。光镜下观察、拍照,对神经元和GABA能神经元分别计数并换算成密度,测量GABA能神经元直径取平均值。结果GABA阳性反应神经元、阳性纤维及其终末在青年猫及老年猫下丘中央核均有分布。与青年猫相比,老年猫下丘中央核神经元及GABA能神经元密度均显著下降(P<0.01),GABA能神经元下降幅度较大;GABA能神经元胞体直径明显减小(P<0.01),阳性反应明显减弱。结论在衰老过程中猫下丘神经元尤其是GABA能神经元有显著丢失现象,提示GABA能神经元显著减少导致下丘兴奋性和抑制性神经递质之间的平衡失调,可能是引起老年个体听觉功能衰退的重要原因。     

Biaxial mechanical properties of the inferior vena cava in C57BL/6 and CB-17 SCID/bg mice

Multiple murine models have proven useful in studying the natural history of neovessel development in the tissue engineering of vascular grafts. Nevertheless, to better understand longitudinal changes in the biomechanics of such neovessels, we must first quantify native tissue structure and properties. In this paper, we present the first biaxial mechanical data for, and nonlinear constitutive modeling of, &QJ;the inferior vena cava from two models used in tissue engineering: wild-type C57BL/6 and immunodeficient CB-17 SCID/bg mice. Results show that inferior vena cava from the latter are significantly stiffer in the circumferential direction, both materially (as assessed by a stored energy function) and structurally (as assessed by the compliance), despite a lower intramural content of fibrillar collagen and similar wall thickness. Quantifying the natural history of neovessel development in different hosts could lead to increased insight into the mechanisms by which cells fashion and maintain extracellular matrix in order to match best the host stiffness while ensuring sufficient vascular integrity.     

Pacemaker Lead Induced Inferior Vena Caval Thrombosis Leading to Portal Hypertension

Inferior vena caval thrombosis is an unusual complication of permanent pacemaker implantation. The clinical presentation due to thrombosis depends on the site of thrombus. We have described here a rare case of pacemaker lead associated thrombosis of inferior vena cava, its diagnostic work up and briefly reviewed the existing literature of this uncommon complication.     

The Middle Jurassic stephanoceratid ammonite Kumatostephanus from Dorset and Somerset,UK, and its evolution

A new exposure at Oborne, Dorset has yielded a rich fossil assemblage of the Lower Bajocian ammonite Kumatostephanus from the Laeviuscula and Humphriesianum zones. The principal bed containing this ammonite, the Green Grained White Marl is locally diachronous; it is an important local marker horizon and it is herein proposed as a formal stratigraphical unit. The specimens obtained allow a better understanding of the evolution of the genus Kumatostephanus and its relationships to the other stephanoceratids, notably Stemmatoceras.