Department of Physiology and Pharmacology, Hotchkiss Brain Institute, University of Calgary, Faculty of Medicine, Calgary, Alberta, Canada.
Neurosci Biobehav Rev. 2011 Nov;35(10):2155-61. doi: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2011.02.010. Epub 2011 Feb 22.
The function of the auditory cortex is dynamic. Although auditory cortical plasticity can be induced through various approaches such as learning, experience and sensory deprivation, a common property is the frequency-specificity; the change in neuronal receptive field or functional maps is highly specific to the frequency content of the acquired sound. This unique property suggests that precise frequency information must be relayed to the auditory cortex. It is well known that the auditory thalamocortical pathway is the only neural substrate that sends precise frequency information to the auditory cortex. This review addresses the impact of the auditory thalamocortical system on cortical plasticity. The frequency-specificity of auditory cortical plasticity and the tonotopic features of the auditory thalamocortical system are briefly presented. A discussion of the decisive role of thalamocortical system follows. After an exploration of a possible synaptic mechanism, a thalamocortical model is proposed to better interpret the neural mechanisms underlying frequency-specific plasticity of the auditory cortex.
听觉皮层的功能是动态的。尽管听觉皮层的可塑性可以通过学习、经验和感觉剥夺等多种方法来诱导，但有一个共同的特点是频率特异性；神经元感受野或功能图谱的变化与获得声音的频率内容高度相关。这种独特的特性表明，必须向听觉皮层传递精确的频率信息。众所周知，听觉丘脑皮质通路是唯一将精确的频率信息传递到听觉皮层的神经基质。本综述探讨了听觉丘脑皮质系统对皮质可塑性的影响。简要介绍了听觉皮层可塑性的频率特异性和听觉丘脑皮质系统的音调特征。接下来讨论了丘脑皮质系统的决定性作用。在探讨了一种可能的突触机制之后，提出了一个丘脑皮质模型，以更好地解释听觉皮层频率特异性可塑性的神经机制。
