NIH VideoCast - How cochlear nuclear neurons enable mammals to hear

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How cochlear nuclear neurons enable mammals to hear

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Air date:	Monday, May 9, 2016, 12:00:00 PM Time displayed is Eastern Time, Washington DC Local
Views:	Total views: 243 (37 Live, 206 On-demand)
Category:	Neuroscience
Runtime:	00:56:19
Closed captioning:	Check box to display CC outside of the video Note: You can drag the captioning window around and resize it
Description:	NIH Neuroscience Series Seminar Robert Wenthold Memorial Lecture Hearing tells us what is going on and where it happens. The ears only give us a running measure of the spectral content of sounds; where sounds arise and what they mean has to be computed by the brain. The effortlessness with which mammals perform this task disguises the feats that are performed. It is Dr. Oertel lab's goal to understand how neurons in the cochlear nuclear complex, the part of the brain that receives input from the ear from the auditory nerve, begin these computations and how these neuronal networks are altered by the loss of hearing. They explore these questions by making electrophysiological recordings in vitro. The cochlear nuclear complex comprises an unlayered ventral cochlear nucleus and a layered dorsal cochlear nucleus whose circuits resemble the adjacent cerebellum. The properties of synapses and the biophysical properties of differ dramatically between neurons in the two regions. Synapses in the ventral cochlear nucleus show little plasticity and act on neurons that preserve the information contained in the timing of firing. Synapses in the outermost layer of the dorsal cochlear nucleus in contrast, are weakened or strengthened by coordinated activity. In mutant mice, the function of these neuronal circuits is altered. They are using mutant mice to learn how these neuronal networks change in animals. In the cochlear nuclei they address questions at several different levels. At the cellular and molecular levels they seek to understand how synaptic function and biophysical properties of neurons are regulated. At the systems level they want to understand how the brain begins to extract information about the location and meaning of sounds. They also seek to gain a better understanding of how hearing loss affects the function of the neuronal networks in the cochlear nuclei.

NLM Title:	How cochlear nuclear neurons enable mammals to hear / Donata Oertel.
Author:	Oertel, Donata. National Institutes of Health (U.S.),
Publisher:
Abstract:	(CIT): NIH Neuroscience Series Seminar Robert Wenthold Memorial Lecture Hearing tells us what is going on and where it happens. The ears only give us a running measure of the spectral content of sounds; where sounds arise and what they mean has to be computed by the brain. The effortlessness with which mammals perform this task disguises the feats that are performed. It is Dr. Oertel lab's goal to understand how neurons in the cochlear nuclear complex, the part of the brain that receives input from the ear from the auditory nerve, begin these computations and how these neuronal networks are altered by the loss of hearing. They explore these questions by making electrophysiological recordings in vitro. The cochlear nuclear complex comprises an unlayered ventral cochlear nucleus and a layered dorsal cochlear nucleus whose circuits resemble the adjacent cerebellum. The properties of synapses and the biophysical properties of differ dramatically between neurons in the two regions. Synapses in the ventral cochlear nucleus show little plasticity and act on neurons that preserve the information contained in the timing of firing. Synapses in the outermost layer of the dorsal cochlear nucleus in contrast, are weakened or strengthened by coordinated activity. In mutant mice, the function of these neuronal circuits is altered. They are using mutant mice to learn how these neuronal networks change in animals. In the cochlear nuclei they address questions at several different levels. At the cellular and molecular levels they seek to understand how synaptic function and biophysical properties of neurons are regulated. At the systems level they want to understand how the brain begins to extract information about the location and meaning of sounds. They also seek to gain a better understanding of how hearing loss affects the function of the neuronal networks in the cochlear nuclei.
Subjects:	Cochlear Nerve--physiology Hearing--physiology Mammals--physiology
Publication Types:	Lecture Webcast

NLM Classification:	QP 461
NLM ID:	101684395
CIT Live ID:	17980
Permanent link:	https://videocast.nih.gov/watch=17980

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