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Latency represents sound frequency in mouse IC

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Abstract

Frequency is one of the fundamental parameters of sound. The frequency of an acoustic stimulus can be represented by a neural response such as spike rate, and/or first spike latency (FSL) of a given neuron. The spike rates/frequency function of most neurons changes with different acoustic amplitudes, whereas FSL/frequency function is highly stable. This implies that FSL might represent the frequency of a sound stimulus more efficiently than spike rate. This study involved representations of acoustic frequency by spike rate and FSL of central inferior colliculus (IC) neurons responding to free-field pure-tone stimuli. We found that the FSLs of neurons responding to characteristic frequency (CF) of sound stimulus were usually the shortest, regardless of sound intensity, and that spike rates of most neurons showed a variety of function according to sound frequency, especially at high intensities. These results strongly suggest that FSL of auditory IC neurons can represent sound frequency more precisely than spike rate.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Institute of Biophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100101, China

    Qiu Qiang, Tang Jie, Yu ZuLin, Zhang Juan, Xiao ZhongJu & Shen JunXian

  2. Graduate University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, China

    Qiu Qiang, Tang Jie, Yu ZuLin & Zhang Juan

  3. Department of Physiology, Southern Medicine University, Guangzhou, 510515, China

    Zhou YingJie & Xiao ZhongJu

Authors
  1. Qiu Qiang
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  2. Tang Jie
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  3. Yu ZuLin
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  4. Zhang Juan
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  5. Zhou YingJie
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  6. Xiao ZhongJu
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  7. Shen JunXian
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Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Xiao ZhongJu or Shen JunXian.

Additional information

Supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 30170250, 90208012, and 30270440), the Innovation Program of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (Grant No. KGCX2-SW-602-2), and Natural Science Foundation of Guangdong Province (Grant No. 32870)

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Qiu, Q., Tang, J., Yu, Z. et al. Latency represents sound frequency in mouse IC. SCI CHINA SER C 50, 258–264 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11427-007-0020-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11427-007-0020-6

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