Gated visual input to the central auditory system.
The central auditory system translates sound localization cues into a map of space guided, in part, by visual experience. In barn owls, this process takes place in the external nucleus of the inferior colliculus (ICX). However, to date, no trace of visual activity has been observed in this auditory nucleus. Here we show that strong visual responses, which are appropriate to guide auditory plasticity, appear in the ICX when inhibition is blocked in the optic tectum. Thus, visual spatial information is gated into the auditory system by an inhibitory mechanism that operates at a higher level in the brain.
Department of Neurobiology, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA 94305, USA. yoram@stanford.edu
Yoram
Y
Gutfreund
Weimin
W
Zheng
Eric I
EI
Knudsen
D000161:Acoustic Stimulation; D000818:Animals; D001306:Auditory Pathways / Q000502:physiology; D001307:Auditory Perception / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology*; D001640:Bicuculline / Q000494:pharmacology; D001931:Brain Mapping; D007245:Inferior Colliculi / Q000502:physiology; D008959:Models, Neurological; D009433:Neural Inhibition / Q000502:physiology; D010775:Photic Stimulation; D013028:Space Perception / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology*; D020305:Strigiformes; D013477:Superior Colliculi / Q000502:physiology; D014795:Visual Pathways / Q000502:physiology; D005680:gamma-Aminobutyric Acid / Q000378:metabolism
D005680:gamma-Aminobutyric Acid; D001640:Bicuculline