Abstract
Descending projections from the thalamus and related structures to the tectum are evolutionarily conserved. Here we characterize basic properties of the mouse auditory thalamotectal pathway and compare them to a homologous pathway in the frog: a species that does not contain a neocortex or an additional corticocollicular pathway. Mouse auditory thalamotectal neurons were found to not stain for the calcium-binding markers typically found in the mammalian thalamus. However, many tectal-projecting cells from the brachium of the inferior colliculus were observed to be GABAergic. In addition, mouse thalamotectal neurons in vitro were found to not demonstrate the low-threshold bursting that is commonly found in thalamocortical neurons. The latter two properties - descending inhibition and lack of bursting - are also found in the frog thalamotectal system. However, these properties are not found in mammalian neocortically-projecting thalamic neurons. Given the divergence of amphibians and mammals hundreds of millions years ago, these data suggest that the thalamotectal projection represents an ancient pathway for providing top-down modulation of acoustic responses in the auditory midbrain. This work is presented in homage to Professor Albert Feng, who pioneered a comparative approach to understanding the auditory system, particularly with respect to the auditory midbrain in amphibians and mammals.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Article number | 010004 |
| Journal | Proceedings of Meetings on Acoustics |
| Volume | 25 |
| Issue number | 1 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Nov 2 2015 |
| Event | 170th Meeting of the Acoustical Society of America 2015 - Jacksonville, United States Duration: Nov 2 2015 → Nov 6 2015 |
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ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Acoustics and Ultrasonics
Cite this
The thalamotectal system : An ancient projection for modulating the auditory midbrain. / Patel, Mili B.; Sons, Stacy; Yang, Luye; Taha, Gehad A.; Llano, Daniel A.; Lesicko, Alexandria M H; Yudintsev, Georgiy.
In: Proceedings of Meetings on Acoustics, Vol. 25, No. 1, 010004, 02.11.2015.Research output: Contribution to journal › Conference article
}
TY - JOUR
T1 - The thalamotectal system
T2 - An ancient projection for modulating the auditory midbrain
AU - Patel, Mili B.
AU - Sons, Stacy
AU - Yang, Luye
AU - Taha, Gehad A.
AU - Llano, Daniel A.
AU - Lesicko, Alexandria M H
AU - Yudintsev, Georgiy
PY - 2015/11/2
Y1 - 2015/11/2
N2 - Descending projections from the thalamus and related structures to the tectum are evolutionarily conserved. Here we characterize basic properties of the mouse auditory thalamotectal pathway and compare them to a homologous pathway in the frog: a species that does not contain a neocortex or an additional corticocollicular pathway. Mouse auditory thalamotectal neurons were found to not stain for the calcium-binding markers typically found in the mammalian thalamus. However, many tectal-projecting cells from the brachium of the inferior colliculus were observed to be GABAergic. In addition, mouse thalamotectal neurons in vitro were found to not demonstrate the low-threshold bursting that is commonly found in thalamocortical neurons. The latter two properties - descending inhibition and lack of bursting - are also found in the frog thalamotectal system. However, these properties are not found in mammalian neocortically-projecting thalamic neurons. Given the divergence of amphibians and mammals hundreds of millions years ago, these data suggest that the thalamotectal projection represents an ancient pathway for providing top-down modulation of acoustic responses in the auditory midbrain. This work is presented in homage to Professor Albert Feng, who pioneered a comparative approach to understanding the auditory system, particularly with respect to the auditory midbrain in amphibians and mammals.
AB - Descending projections from the thalamus and related structures to the tectum are evolutionarily conserved. Here we characterize basic properties of the mouse auditory thalamotectal pathway and compare them to a homologous pathway in the frog: a species that does not contain a neocortex or an additional corticocollicular pathway. Mouse auditory thalamotectal neurons were found to not stain for the calcium-binding markers typically found in the mammalian thalamus. However, many tectal-projecting cells from the brachium of the inferior colliculus were observed to be GABAergic. In addition, mouse thalamotectal neurons in vitro were found to not demonstrate the low-threshold bursting that is commonly found in thalamocortical neurons. The latter two properties - descending inhibition and lack of bursting - are also found in the frog thalamotectal system. However, these properties are not found in mammalian neocortically-projecting thalamic neurons. Given the divergence of amphibians and mammals hundreds of millions years ago, these data suggest that the thalamotectal projection represents an ancient pathway for providing top-down modulation of acoustic responses in the auditory midbrain. This work is presented in homage to Professor Albert Feng, who pioneered a comparative approach to understanding the auditory system, particularly with respect to the auditory midbrain in amphibians and mammals.
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U2 - 10.1121/2.0000144
DO - 10.1121/2.0000144
M3 - Conference article
AN - SCOPUS:85008912624
VL - 25
JO - Proceedings of Meetings on Acoustics
JF - Proceedings of Meetings on Acoustics
SN - 1939-800X
IS - 1
M1 - 010004
ER -