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Single unit hyperactivity and bursting in the auditory thalamus of awake rats directly correlates with behavioural evidence of tinnitus
Author(s) -
Kalappa Bopanna I.,
Brozoski Thomas J.,
Turner Jeremy G.,
Caspary Donald M.
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
the journal of physiology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.802
H-Index - 240
eISSN - 1469-7793
pISSN - 0022-3751
DOI - 10.1113/jphysiol.2014.278572
Subject(s) - bursting , tinnitus , thalamus , audiology , neuroscience , psychology , medicine
Key points Medial geniculate body (MGB) single units recorded from sound‐exposed animals with behavioural evidence of tinnitus exhibits enhanced spontaneous firing and burst properties. MGB units in tinnitus animals exhibit increased rate‐level function slope when driven by broadband noise and tones at the unit's characteristic frequency. Elevated patterns of neuronal activity and altered bursting showed a significant positive correlation with animals’ tinnitus scores.Tinnitus is an auditory percept without an environmental acoustic correlate. Contemporary tinnitus models hypothesize tinnitus to be a consequence of maladaptive plasticity‐induced disturbance of excitation–inhibition homeostasis, possibly convergent on medial geniculate body (MGB, auditory thalamus) and related neuronal networks. The MGB is an obligate acoustic relay in a unique position to gate auditory signals to higher‐order auditory and limbic centres. Tinnitus‐related maladaptive plastic changes of MGB‐related neuronal networks may affect the gating function of MGB and enhance gain in central auditory and non‐auditory neuronal networks, resulting in tinnitus. The present study examined the discharge properties of MGB neurons in the sound‐exposure gap inhibition animal model of tinnitus. MGB single unit responses were obtained from awake unexposed controls and sound‐exposed adult rats with behavioural evidence of tinnitus. MGB units in animals with tinnitus exhibited enhanced spontaneous firing, altered burst properties and increased rate‐level function slope when driven by broadband noise and tones at the unit's characteristic frequency. Elevated patterns of neuronal activity and altered bursting showed a significant positive correlation with animals’ tinnitus scores. Altered activity of MGB neurons revealed additional features of auditory system plasticity associated with tinnitus, which may provide a testable assay for future therapeutic and diagnostic development.