title: Modulation of azimuth tuning plasticity in rat primary auditory cortex by medial prefrontal cortex.
abstract: Neurons in the primary auditory cortex (A1) of adult animals exhibit short-term plasticity of frequency selectivity and tonotopic organization in behavioral contexts ranging from classical conditioning to attention tasks. However, it is still largely unknown whether short-term plasticity of spatial tuning takes place in A1 of adult animals and whether this spatial turning plasticity in A1 of adults is mediated by medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) as there are reciprocal connection between mPFC and auditory cortex (AC). In the present study, we used extracellular recordings to test whether azimuth tuning in A1 of anesthetized rats can be reshaped by repeated sound stimuli at neurons' non-preferred azimuth. We also identified whether and how such A1 azimuth tuning plasticity was modulated by the neural activities of mPFC. Our results showed that A1 neurons in adult rats have azimuth tuning plasticity when repeated acoustic stimuli were delivered at the azimuth with a deviation by less than 15° from the best azimuth (BA). The BA shifted toward the exposure azimuth when repeated acoustic stimuli were played for 20-60min and plasticity decayed within one hour. The less the angle deviated from the BA, the shorter exposure time and longer decay time were required to induce azimuth tuning plasticity. Neural activity in mPFC modulated azimuth tuning plasticity of A1 neurons as reflected by the shorter induction time when mPFC was activated by focal electrical stimulation and the longer induction time when mPFC was inactivated by drug application. Our results suggest that spatial location selectivity in A1 neurons remains plastic in mature animals and that short-term plasticity of spatial tuning can be modulated by the neural activities of mPFC.
authors.affiliation: Interdisciplinary Institute of Neuroscience and Technology, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310020, China; College of Life Sciences, Key Laboratory of Brain Functional Genomics, Ministry of Education, East China Normal University, Shanghai 200062, China. Electronic address: lxgao10@zju.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Lixia
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Gao
authors.affiliation: College of Life Sciences, Key Laboratory of Brain Functional Genomics, Ministry of Education, East China Normal University, Shanghai 200062, China.
authors.forename: Xinjian
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: College of Life Sciences, Key Laboratory of Brain Functional Genomics, Ministry of Education, East China Normal University, Shanghai 200062, China; College of Life Information Science & Instrument Engineering, Hangzhou Dianzi University, Hangzhou 310018, China.
authors.forename: Wenwei
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.affiliation: College of Life Sciences, Key Laboratory of Brain Functional Genomics, Ministry of Education, East China Normal University, Shanghai 200062, China.
authors.forename: Xinde
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Sun
mesh_terms: D000161:Acoustic Stimulation; D000818:Animals; D001303:Auditory Cortex / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D008297:Male; D009473:Neuronal Plasticity; D009474:Neurons / Q000502:physiology*; D017397:Prefrontal Cortex / Q000502:physiology*; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D013017:Sound Localization / Q000502:physiology*
keywords: adult plasticity; azimuth tuning; medial prefrontal cortex; modulation; primary auditory cortex; sound exposure