title: Columnar and layer-specific representation of spatial sensitivity in mouse primary auditory cortex.
abstract: The primary auditory cortex (AI) is implicated in coding sound location, as revealed by behavior-lesion experiments, but our knowledge about the functional organization and laminar specificity of neural spatial sensitivity is still very limited. Using single-unit recordings in mouse AI, we show that (i) an inverse relationship between onset latency and spike count is consistently observed when all the azimuthal points are taken; (ii) a substantial proportion of penetrations perpendicular to the AI surface showed columnar organization of best azimuths; (iii) the preferred azimuth range of AI neurons demonstrated layer-specific distribution pattern. Our findings suggest that similar to other response properties, the manner of sound space information processing in the auditory cortex is also layer dependent.
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Brain and Cognitive Science, Institute of Biophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Chaoyang District, China.
authors.forename: Ke-Xin
authors.initials: KX
authors.lastname: Yuan
authors.forename: Jun-Xian
authors.initials: JX
authors.lastname: Shen
mesh_terms: D000161:Acoustic Stimulation; D000818:Animals; D001303:Auditory Cortex / Q000166:cytology / Q000502:physiology*; D001306:Auditory Pathways / Q000502:physiology; D003627:Data Interpretation, Statistical; D055724:Electrophysiological Phenomena; D005260:Female; D051379:Mice; D008807:Mice, Inbred BALB C; D008839:Microelectrodes; D009474:Neurons / Q000502:physiology; D013017:Sound Localization / Q000502:physiology*