Discharge suppression in the silent interval preceding the tone burst in pause-build units of the dorsal cochlear nucleus of the unanesthetized decerebrate cat.
A recent intracellular study of dorsal cochlear nucleus (DCN) neurons in vitro by Manis [P. B. Manis, J. Neurosci. 10, 2338-2351 (1990)] suggests that the expression of the pause-build discharge pattern is in large part dependent on hyperpolarization of their membrane potentials in a period just preceding a depolarizing stimulus ("hyperpolarization conditioning" hypothesis). Our examination of the activity of a sample of pause-build units (n = 72) revealed suppression of discharge activity during a time window of the silent interstimulus interval (SII) just preceding the tone burst relative to the spontaneous rate in 74% of all units. The discharge suppression of a subset of DCN pause-build units in the SII satisfies a requirement of the "hyperpolarization conditioning" hypothesis, and thus supports the hypothesis.
Parham
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Department of Surgery, University of Connecticut Health Center, Farmington 06030.
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D000161:Acoustic Stimulation; D000818:Animals; D001301:Audiometry, Pure-Tone; D001489:Basilar Membrane; D002415:Cats; D003051:Cochlea / Q000502:physiology*; D003655:Decerebrate State; D000159:Vestibulocochlear Nerve / Q000502:physiology*