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Role of corticofugal feedback in hearing

Journal of Comparative Physiology A volume 194, pages 169–183 (2008)Cite this article

Abstract

The auditory system consists of the ascending and descending (corticofugal) systems. The corticofugal system forms multiple feedback loops. Repetitive acoustic or auditory cortical electric stimulation activates the cortical neural net and the corticofugal system and evokes cortical plastic changes as well as subcortical plastic changes. These changes are short-term and are specific to the properties of the acoustic stimulus or electrically stimulated cortical neurons. These plastic changes are modulated by the neuromodulatory system. When the acoustic stimulus becomes behaviorally relevant to the animal through auditory fear conditioning or when the cortical electric stimulation is paired with an electric stimulation of the cholinergic basal forebrain, the cortical plastic changes become larger and long-term, whereas the subcortical changes stay short-term, although they also become larger. Acetylcholine plays an essential role in augmenting the plastic changes and in producing long-term cortical changes. The corticofugal system has multiple functions. One of the most important functions is the improvement and adjustment (reorganization) of subcortical auditory signal processing for cortical signal processing.

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Abbreviations

AC:

Auditory cortex

ACh:

Acetylcholine

AIp:

Posterior division of the primary auditory cortex

BAZ:

Best azimuth

BDe:

Best delay

BDu:

Best duration

BF:

Best frequency

CM:

Cochlear microphonic

CS:

Conditioned stimulus

DPD:

Dorsoposterior division

DSCF:

Doppler-shifted constant frequency

DSCFd:

Dorsal DSCF area

DSCFv:

Ventral DSCF area

IC:

Inferior colliculus

MGB:

Medial geniculate body

MGBm:

Medial division of MGB

MGBv:

Ventral division of MGB

MT:

Minimum threshold

PIN:

Posterior intralaminar nucleus

US:

Unconditioned stimulus

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Acknowledgments

Our work has been supported by a research grant from the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (DC000175). I thank my present and past collaborators Drs. Syed M. Chowdhury, Enquan Gao, Weiqing Ji, Xiaofeng Ma, Masashi Sakai, Zhongju Xiao, Jun Yan, Wei Yan and Yungfeng Zhang for their excellent research on the function of the corticofugal auditory system and also my laboratory technician, Ms. Sally E. Miller for editing this manuscript.

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  1. Department of Biology, Washington University, One Brookings Drive, St Louis, MO, 63130, USA

    Nobuo Suga

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Suga, N. Role of corticofugal feedback in hearing. J Comp Physiol A 194, 169–183 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00359-007-0274-2

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Keywords

  • Auditory cortex
  • Descending system
  • Frequency tuning
  • Inferior colliculus
  • Plasticity