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Electrophysiological Mapping of Cat Primary Auditory Cortex with Multielectrode Arrays

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Abstract

The present study employs simultaneous multielectrode recording techniques to study the feline primary auditory cortex (AI) to characterize its functional architecture. High electrode-count microelectrode arrays provide a high spatial and temporal view of AI, but at the potential cost of significant cortical insult. However, the number of electrodes that record single- and multiunit action potentials shown in this study suggest that the implantation of high electrode-count microelectrode arrays allows for reliable recordings from the cortex and that the neurons abutting the electrode tips appear to be spared from significant insult. Using these recordings, we have constructed a functional model of AI that best specifies the distribution of characteristic frequencies (CF's), and have reaffirmed that CF is logarithmically distributed across the cortical surface with a principal CF axis perpendicular to generally straight isofrequency contours. In four cats, we found that the average CF gradient was 0.53 ± 0.08 octave per millimeter. This study demonstrates the use of high electrode count, microelectrode array recordings in characterizing the spatial distribution of acoustic information in the feline AI.

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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

We thank Yan-Ping Zhang for fabrication of some of the UEAs used in this study and also acknowledge Arun Badi, Brett Dowden, and Scott McFarlane for their discussion on this study. This work was supported by National Institutes of Health Contract N01-DC-1-2108.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. The Department of Bioengineering, The University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT, 84112, USA

    Seung-Jae Kim, Sandeep C. Manyam, David J. Warren & Richard A. Normann

  2. Department of Bioengineering, University of Utah, 20 S 2030 E, Rm. 506 BPRB, Salt Lake City, UT, 84112, USA

    Richard A. Normann

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  1. Seung-Jae Kim
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  2. Sandeep C. Manyam
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  4. Richard A. Normann
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Correspondence to Richard A. Normann.

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Kim, SJ., Manyam, S.C., Warren, D.J. et al. Electrophysiological Mapping of Cat Primary Auditory Cortex with Multielectrode Arrays. Ann Biomed Eng 34, 300–309 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10439-005-9037-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10439-005-9037-9

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