Lateral inhibition in the anteroventral cochlear nucleus of the cat: a microiontophoretic study.
The spontaneous firing rates of non-prepotential (NPP) units of the anteroventral cochlear nucleus are quite low so it has not been possible to determine whether side band tones are inhibitory when presented alone. Microiontophoretically-applied excitatory amino acids can be used to excite non-spontaneous cells directly. Using this technique it can be shown that side band tone bursts 1/2 to 3/4 octave above the characteristic frequency (CF) of a NPP unit inhibit the amino acid-induced firing. Side band tones which inhibited the amino acid-induced firing were beyond the tuning curve. Side band tones within the tuning curve produced excitation. Both, however, usually reduced the activity evoked by a CF tone burst (i.e., two-tone interaction). The data suggests that lateral inhibition and two-tone interactions are separate phenomena in the auditory system and that lateral inhibition may play a critical role in determining the shape of the tuning curve of NPP units.
D000596:Amino Acids / Q000494:pharmacology; D000818:Animals; D002415:Cats; D003051:Cochlea / Q000294:innervation* / Q000502:physiology; D005072:Evoked Potentials, Auditory; D005260:Female; D006710:Homocysteine / Q000031:analogs & derivatives / Q000494:pharmacology; D007478:Iontophoresis; D008297:Male; D009433:Neural Inhibition / Q000187:drug effects
D000596:Amino Acids; D006710:Homocysteine; C007956:homocysteic acid