Development and Plasticity of Intrinsic Connectivity in the Central Nucleus of the Mouse Inferior ColliculusSturm, Joshua (2015) Development and Plasticity of Intrinsic Connectivity in the Central Nucleus of the Mouse Inferior Colliculus. Doctoral Dissertation, University of Pittsburgh. (Unpublished)
AbstractProper brain function depends upon the precise organization of neural circuits. In the central auditory system, accurate acoustic processing depends upon the assembly and preservation of tonotopically-organized networks of excitatory and inhibitory synaptic connections. In Chapter 2, we mapped the functional organization of intrinsic connections in the CNIC during the first three weeks of postnatal development. We found evidence of robust excitatory and inhibitory intrinsic connections already at postnatal day 2 (P2). Excitatory and inhibitory intrinsic connections underwent a period of dramatic refinement after hearing onset, resulting in a predominance of intrinsic inhibition. In Chapter 3, we examined the role of hearing experience in directing the maturation of intrinsic CNIC circuits by rearing mice in pulsed white noise. We found that pulsed noise delivered from P12-25, but not P19-25, led to a profound reorganization of excitatory and inhibitory intrinsic connections received by both glutamatergic and GABAergic neurons, suggesting that intrinsic CNIC circuits are sculpted by acoustic experience during an early critical period. In Chapter 4, we investigated the effects of hearing-loss on the organization of CNIC circuits in a mouse model of tinnitus. We found that hearing loss led to reorganizations of excitatory and inhibitory local CNIC circuits, the nature of which correlated with the presence or absence of behavioral evidence of tinnitus. Acoustic enrichment with pulsed white noise delivered immediately after acoustic trauma prevented circuit reorganization and the emergence of behavioral signs of tinnitus. Share
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