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Neurons, Connections, and Microcircuits of the Inferior Colliculus

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The Mammalian Auditory Pathways

Part of the book series: Springer Handbook of Auditory Research ((SHAR,volume 65))

Abstract

In this chapter, the neural circuitry of the inferior colliculus (IC) is described at a cellular level. The IC is subdivided into the central nucleus (ICC) and surrounding cortices that receive specific combinations of inputs and generate diverse outputs. Neuronal types in the IC can be distinguished by their dendritic arborization patterns, neurochemical profiles, and physiological properties. Based on these properties, neuronal types organizing the ICC appear to be different from those organizing the IC cortex. The IC receives ascending inputs from the cochlear nuclei, superior olivary complex, and nuclei of the lateral lemniscus, and the IC receives descending inputs from the auditory cortex and nonauditory inputs from various nuclei. Each input source forms terminal fields in particular zones of the IC. Massive commissural and local inputs are also present. One well-characterized cell type, the large GABAergic IC neuron, receives convergent input from all of these sources. The IC neurons project to the auditory thalamus as well as to lower brain stem nuclei. Anatomical and physiological features suggest that ICC acts as an auditory integration center, and IC cortex acts as a multimodal integration center and novelty detector. These data support the view that the lemniscal and nonlemniscal pathways emerge at the midbrain level.

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Acknowledgments

The authors are grateful to Drs. Douglas L. Oliver, Munenori Ono, and Mark N. Wallace for providing excellent images. Financial support was provided by the Spanish Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad (SAF2016-75803-P) and Consejeria de Educación JCYL grant (SA343U14) to MSM; support was provided by Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (KAKENHI Grant numbers: 16H01501, 16K07026, 22700365, and 25430034), the Uehara Memorial Foundation, the Ichiro Kanehara Foundation, Novartis Foundation of Japan, Takahashi Industrial and Economic Research Foundation, and Research and Education Program for Life Science of University of Fukui to TI.

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Tetsufumi Ito declares no conflicts of interest.

Manuel S. Malmierca declares no conflicts of interest.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Anatomy, School of Medicine, Kanazawa Medical University, Uchinada, Ishikawa, Japan

    Tetsufumi Ito

  2. Auditory Neuroscience Laboratory, Institute for Neuroscience of Castilla y León, University of Salamanca, Salamanca, Spain

    Manuel S. Malmierca

  3. Department of Cell Biology and Pathology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Salamanca, Salamanca, Spain

    Manuel S. Malmierca

  4. The Salamanca Institute for Biomedical Research (IBSAL), Salamanca, Spain

    Manuel S. Malmierca

Authors
  1. Tetsufumi Ito
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  2. Manuel S. Malmierca
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Correspondence to Tetsufumi Ito .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Neuroscience, UConn Health, University of Connecticut, Farmington, Connecticut, USA

    Douglas L. Oliver

  2. Department of Neurobiology, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, North Carolina, USA

    Nell B. Cant

  3. Loyola University Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, USA

    Richard R. Fay

  4. Department of Biology, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland, USA

    Arthur N. Popper

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Ito, T., Malmierca, M.S. (2018). Neurons, Connections, and Microcircuits of the Inferior Colliculus. In: Oliver, D., Cant, N., Fay, R., Popper, A. (eds) The Mammalian Auditory Pathways. Springer Handbook of Auditory Research, vol 65. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-71798-2_6

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