Ambient GABA-activated tonic inhibition sharpens auditory coincidence detection via a depolarizing shunting mechanism.

Title

Ambient GABA-activated tonic inhibition sharpens auditory coincidence detection via a depolarizing shunting mechanism.

Creator

Tang Zheng-Quan; Dinh Emilie Hoang; Shi Wei; Lu Yong

Publisher

The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience

Date

2011
2011-04

Description

Tonic inhibition mediated by extrasynaptic GABA(A) receptors (GABA(A)Rs) has emerged as a novel form of neural inhibition in the CNS. However, little is known about its presence and function in the auditory system. Using whole-cell recordings in brain slices, we identified a tonic current mediated by GABA(A)Rs containing the delta subunit in middle/high-characteristic-frequency neurons of the chicken nucleus laminaris, the first interaural time difference encoder that computes information for sound localization. This tonic conductance was activated by ambient concentrations of GABA released from synaptic vesicles. Furthermore, pharmacological manipulations of the conductance demonstrated its essential role in coincidence detection. Remarkably, this depolarizing tonic conductance was strongly inhibitory primarily because of its shunting effect. These results demonstrate a novel role for tonic inhibition in central auditory information processing.

Subject

Animals; Chick Embryo; Patch-Clamp Techniques; Electric Stimulation; Neurons/*physiology; gamma-Aminobutyric Acid/*physiology; Membrane Potentials/physiology; Auditory Pathways/*physiology; Neural Inhibition/*physiology; Inhibitory Postsynaptic Potentials; Receptors; Blotting; Western; GABA-A/*physiology

Rights

Article information provided for research and reference use only. All rights are retained by the journal listed under publisher and/or the creator(s).

Pages

6121–6131

Issue

16

Volume

31

Citation

Tang Zheng-Quan; Dinh Emilie Hoang; Shi Wei; Lu Yong, “Ambient GABA-activated tonic inhibition sharpens auditory coincidence detection via a depolarizing shunting mechanism.,” NEOMED Bibliography Database, accessed March 28, 2024, https://neomed.omeka.net/items/show/5006.