Lee Charles C, Yanagawa Yuchio, Imaizumi Kazuo
Department of Comparative Biomedical Sciences, Louisiana State University, School of Veterinary Medicine, Baton Rouge, LA 70803, USA.
Department of Genetic and Behavioral Neuroscience, Gunma University Graduate School of Medicine, Maebashi, Gunma, Japan.
Hear Res. 2015 Oct;328:94-101. doi: 10.1016/j.heares.2015.08.011. Epub 2015 Aug 28.
The inferior colliculus (IC) receives ascending and descending information from several convergent neural sources. As such, exploring the neural pathways that converge in the IC is crucial to uncovering their multi-varied roles in the integration of auditory and other sensory information. Among these convergent pathways, the IC commissural connections represent an important route for the integration of bilateral information in the auditory system. Here, we describe the preparation and validation of a novel in vitro slice preparation for examining the functional topography and synaptic properties of the commissural and intrinsic projections in the IC of the mouse. This preparation, in combination with modern genetic approaches in the mouse, enables the specific examination of these pathways, which potentially can reveal cell-type specific processing channels in the auditory midbrain.
下丘（IC）从多个汇聚的神经源接收上行和下行信息。因此，探索汇聚于IC的神经通路对于揭示它们在听觉和其他感觉信息整合中的多种作用至关重要。在这些汇聚通路中，IC连合连接是听觉系统中双侧信息整合的重要途径。在这里，我们描述了一种新型体外脑片制备方法的制备和验证，该方法用于研究小鼠IC中连合投射和固有投射的功能地形图及突触特性。这种制备方法与小鼠的现代遗传学方法相结合，能够对这些通路进行特异性研究，这有可能揭示听觉中脑中细胞类型特异性的处理通道。
