Biased synaptopathy as a central mechanism of age-related hearing loss.

Biased synaptopathy as a central mechanism of age-related hearing loss.

Lu Y

The Journal Of Physiology

2021

2021-01-31

Different properties of sounds are encoded by different subcortical circuits. Real-time auditory scene analysis requires multiple parallel streams of information encoded by these circuits to converge at the auditory cortex, forming auditory objects in space (Bregman 1994). This process begins at the cochlear nucleus (CN). As the first central auditory station, the CN receives information about sounds from the spiral ganglion neurons (SGNs) via the central synapses formed by the auditory nerve fibres (ANFs). A number of cell types exist in the CN, each of which assumes specialized morphology and physiology suitable for extracting certain features of sounds. Bushy cells are specialized in receiving and transmitting temporal information, which is critical for sound localization and speech comprehension. Much effort has been devoted to revealing the details of innervation in bushy cells, although the level of resolution has been limited by the lack of appropriate tools to distinguish different fibre types. In this issue of The Journal of Physiology, taking advantage of the molecular markers for distinct presynaptic fibres originating from the SGNs, Wang et al. (2021) investigated explicitly the innervation impinging upon single bushy cells in the mouse CN.

1723-1724

6

599

NEOMED College of Medicine

Department of Anatomy & Neurobiology

Jan to Aug list 2021