Inhibitory Function in Auditory Processing

✍ Scribed by R. Michael Burger, Conny Kopp-Scheinpflug, Ian D. Forsythe, eds.

• Publisher: Frontiers Media SA
• Year: 2015
• Tongue: English
• Leaves: 233
• Series: Frontiers in Neural Circuits
• Category: Library

✦ Synopsis

There seems little doubt that from the earliest evolutionary beginnings, inhibition has been a fundamental feature of neuronal circuits. - even the simplest life forms sense and interact with their environment, orienting or approaching positive stimuli while avoiding aversive stimuli. This requires internal signals that both drive and suppress behavior. Traditional descriptions of inhibition sometimes limit its role to the prevention of action potential generation which fails to capture the vast breadth of inhibitory function now known to exist in neural circuits. 

A modern view of inhibitory signaling comprises a multitude of mechanisms; For example, inhibition can act via a shunting mechanism to speed the membrane time constant and reduce synaptic integration time. It can act via G-protein coupled receptors to initiate second messenger cascades that influence synaptic strength. Inhibition contributes to rhythm generation and can even activate ion channels that mediate inward currents to drive action potential generation. Inhibition also appears to play a role in shaping the properties of neural circuitry over longer time scales. Experience-dependent synaptic plasticity in developing and mature neural circuits underlies behavioral memory and has been intensively studied over the past decade. At excitatory synapses, adjustments of synaptic efficacy are regulated predominantly by changes in the number and function of postsynaptic glutamate receptors. There is, however, increasing evidence for inhibitory modulation of target neuron excitability playing key roles in experience-dependent plasticity. One reason for our limited knowledge about plasticity at inhibitory synapses is that in most circuits, neurons receive convergent inputs from disparate sources. This problem can be overcome by investigating inhibitory circuits in a system with well-defined inhibitory nuclei and projections, each with a known computational function. 

Compared to other sensory systems, the auditory system has evolved a large number of subthalamic nuclei each devoted to processing distinct features of sound stimuli. This information once extracted is then re-assembled to form the percept the acoustic world around us. The well-understood function of many of these auditory nuclei has enhanced our understanding of inhibition's role in shaping their responses from easily distinguished inhibitory inputs. In particular, neurons devoted to processing the location of sound sources receive a complement of discrete inputs for which in vivo activity and function are well understood. Investigation of these areas has led to significant advances in understanding the development, physiology, and mechanistic underpinnings of inhibition that apply broadly to neuroscience.

In this series of papers, we plan to generate a resource of the variety of inhibitory circuits and their function in auditory processing. Specifically, we plan to present original publications and focused reviews on the following topics: 

• Feed-forward inhibition 
• Feed-back inhibition 
• G-protein coupled inhibition 
• Shunting inhibition 
• Depolarizing inhibition 
• Inhibition generating action potentials 
• Short-term plasticity at inhibitory synapses. A broad coalition of the best researchers in this area are encouraged to participate.

✦ Table of Contents

Editorial: Inhibitory function in auditory processing - R. M. Burger, Ian D. Forsythe and Conny Kopp-Scheinpflug

Linear coding of complex sound spectra by discharge rate in neurons of the medial nucleus of the trapezoid body (MNTB) and its inputs - Kanthaiah Koka and Daniel J. Tollin

The relative contributions of MNTB and LNTB neurons to inhibition in the medial superior olive assessed through single and paired recordings - Michael T. Roberts, Stephanie C. Seeman and Nace L. Golding

Inhibitory projections from the ventral nucleus of the trapezoid body to the medial nucleus of the trapezoid body in the mouse - Otto Albrecht, Anna Dondzillo, Florian Mayer, John A. Thompson and Achim Klug

Distribution of glycine receptors on the surface of the mature calyx of Held nerve terminal - Johana Trojanova, Akos Kulik, Jiri Janacek, Michaela Kralikova, Josef Syka and Rostislav Turecek

Development of glycinergic innervation to the murine LSO and SPN in the presence and absence of the MNTB - Stefanie C. Altieri, Tianna Zhao, Walid Jalabi and Stephen M. Maricich

Cell-type specific short-term plasticity at auditory nerve synapses controls feed-forward inhibition in the dorsal cochlear nucleus - Miloslav Sedlacek and Stephan D. Brenowitz

Superficial stellate cells of the dorsal cochlear nucleus - Pierre F. Apostolides and Laurence O. Trussell

Inhibitory glycinergic neurotransmission in the mammalian auditory brainstem upon prolonged stimulation: short-term plasticity and synaptic reliability - Florian Kramer, Désirée Griesemer, Dennis Bakker, Sina Brill, Jürgen Franke, Erik Frotscher and Eckhard Friauf

Developmental expression of inhibitory synaptic long-term potentiation in the lateral superior olive - Vibhakar C. Kotak and Dan H. Sanes

Nitric oxide signaling modulates synaptic inhibition in the superior paraolivary nucleus (SPN) via cGMP-dependent suppression of KCC2 - Lina Yassin, Susanne Radtke-Schuller, Hila Asraf, Benedikt Grothe, Michal Hershfinkel, Ian D. Forsythe and Cornelia Kopp-Scheinpflug

VGLUT3 does not synergize GABA/glycine release during functional refinement of an inhibitory auditory circuit - Daniel T. Case, Javier Alamilla and Deda C. Gillespie

Glycinergic transmission modulates GABAergic inhibition in the avian auditory pathway - Matthew J. Fischl and R. Michael Burger

Activity-dependent modulation of inhibitory synaptic kinetics in the cochlear nucleus - Jana Nerlich, Christian Keine, Rudolf Rübsamen, R. Michael Burger and Ivan Milenkovic

GABAergic and glycinergic inhibitory synaptic transmission in the ventral cochlear nucleus studied in VGAT channelrhodopsin-2 mice - Ruili Xie and Paul B. Manis

Interplay between low threshold voltage-gated K+ channels and synaptic inhibition in neurons of the chicken nucleus laminaris along its frequency axis - William R. Hamlet, Yu-Wei Liu, Zheng-Quan Tang and Yong Lu

Neuronal specializations for the processing of interaural difference cues in the chick - Harunori Ohmori

The natural history of sound localization in mammals – a story of neuronal inhibition - Benedikt Grothe and Michael Pecka