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Corticofugal modulation of the midbrain frequency map in the bat auditory system

Nature Neuroscience volume 1, pages 54–58 (1998)Cite this article

Abstract

The auditory system, like the visual and somatosensory systems, contains topographic maps in its central neural pathways. These maps can be modified by sensory deprivation, injury and experience in both young and adult animals. Such plasticity has been explained by changes in the divergent and convergent projections of the ascending sensory system. Another possibility, however, is that plasticity may be mediated by descending corticofugal connections. We have investigated the role of descending connections from the cortex to the inferior colliculus of the big brown bat. Electrical stimulation of the auditory cortex causes a downward shift in the preferred frequencies of collicular neurons toward that of the stimulated cortical neurons. This results in a change in the frequency map within the colliculus. Moreover, similar changes can be induced by repeated bursts of sound at moderate intensities. Thus, one role of the mammalian corticofugal system may be to modify subcortical sensory maps in response to sensory experience.

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Figure 1: Shift in the frequency map of the inferior colliculus (IC) evoked by a focal electrical stimulation (ES) of the auditory cortex (AC) paired with an acoustic stimulus (AS).
Figure 2: Shifts in the frequency map of the inferior colliculus evoked by focal electrical stimulation of the auditory cortex paired with an acoustic stimulus (a-c).
Figure 3: Changes in the frequency-response curves of three single collicular neurons evoked by focal electrical stimulation of the auditory cortex paired with an acoustic stimulus (a-c), and changes in response magnitudes (d) and BF's (e) of 42 single collicular neurons as a function of BF difference between collicular and electrically stimulated cortical neurons.

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Acknowledgements

The big brown bats used for this work were supplied by Dr. S. Dear. We thank Drs. S. Dear, D. Fitzpatrick, S. Kuwada, J.F. Olsen, W. E. O'Neill, Mr. A. Kadir and Mr. N. Laleman for their comments on the manuscript. This work has been supported by a research grant from National Institute on Deafness and Other Communicative Disorders (DC 00175).

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  1. Department of Biology, Washington University, One Brookings Drive, St. Louis, 63130, Missouri, USA

    Wei Yan & Nobuo Suga

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Correspondence to Nobuo Suga.

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Yan, W., Suga, N. Corticofugal modulation of the midbrain frequency map in the bat auditory system. Nat Neurosci 1, 54–58 (1998). https://doi.org/10.1038/255

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