Summary
In the barn owl (Tyto alba), the posterior nucleus of the ventral lateral lemniscus (VLVp) is the first site of binaural convergence in the pathway that processes interaural level difference (ILD), an important sound-localization cue. The neurons of VLVp are sensitive to ILD because of an excitatory input from the contralateral ear and an inhibitory input from the ipsilateral ear. A previously described projection from the contralateral cochlear nucleus, can account for the excitation. The present study addresses the source of the inhibitory input.
We demonstrate with standard axonal transport methods that the left and right VLVps are interconnected via fibers of the commissure of Probst. We further show that the anesthetization of one VLVp renders ineffective the inhibition that is normally evoked by stimulation of the ipsilateral ear. Thus, one cochlear nucleus (driven by the ipsilateral ear) appears to provide inhibition to the ipsilateral VLVp by exciting commissurally-projecting inhibitory neurons in the contralateral VLVp.
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Abbreviations
- ABL :
-
average binaural level
- CP :
-
commissure of Probst
- DNLL :
-
dorsal nucleus of the lateral lemniscus
- IC :
-
inferior colliculus
- ILD :
-
interaural level difference
- IPc :
-
nucleus isthmi, pars parvocellularis
- ITD :
-
interaural time difference
- LSO :
-
lateral superior olive
- MNTB :
-
medial nucleus of the trapezoid body
- NA :
-
nucleus angularis
- SL :
-
nucleus semilunaris
- VLVa :
-
nucleus ventralis lemnisci lateralis, pars anterior
- VLVp :
-
nucleus ventralis lemnisci lateralis, pars posterior
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Takahashi, T.T., Keller, C.H. Commissural connections mediate inhibition for the computation of interaural level difference in the barn owl. J Comp Physiol A 170, 161–169 (1992). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00196898
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00196898