title: Synaptic morphology and the influence of auditory experience.
abstract: The auditory experience is crucial for the normal development and maturation of brain structure and the maintenance of the auditory pathways. The specific aims of this review are (i) to provide a brief background of the synaptic morphology of the endbulb of Held in hearing and deaf animals; (ii) to argue the importance of this large synaptic ending in linking neural activity along ascending pathways to environmental acoustic events; (iii) to describe how the re-introduction of electrical activity changes this synapse; and (iv) to examine how changes at the endbulb synapse initiate trans-synaptic changes in ascending auditory projections to the superior olivary complex, the inferior complex, and the auditory cortex.
authors.affiliation: Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD 21205, USA.
authors.forename: Jahn N
authors.initials: JN
authors.lastname: O'Neil
authors.forename: Catherine J
authors.initials: CJ
authors.lastname: Connelly
authors.forename: Charles J
authors.initials: CJ
authors.lastname: Limb
authors.forename: David K
authors.initials: DK
authors.lastname: Ryugo
mesh_terms: D000162:Acoustics; D000818:Animals; D001303:Auditory Cortex; D001306:Auditory Pathways / Q000502:physiology*; D001921:Brain / Q000473:pathology; D003638:Deafness / Q000503:physiopathology; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D006309:Hearing / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D007245:Inferior Colliculi / Q000502:physiology*; D009473:Neuronal Plasticity; D009847:Olivary Nucleus / Q000502:physiology; D013045:Species Specificity; D013569:Synapses / Q000502:physiology*; D014714:Vertebrates