Binaural and frequency representation in the primary auditory cortex of the big brown bat, Eptesicus fuscus.

Abstract

This study examines the binaural and frequency representation in the primary auditory cortex (AC) of the big brown bat, Eptesicus fuscus, by using an ear-phone stimulation system. All 306 cortical neurons studied were excited by contralateral sound stimulation but they were either excited, inhibited or not affected by ipsilateral sound stimulation. These cortical neurons were columnarly organized according to their binaural and frequency-tuning properties. The excitation-excitation columns which occupy about 15% of the AC are mainly aggregated within an oval-shaped area of the central AC. The excitation-inhibition neurons and binaural neurons with mixed properties are distributed in the remaining 85% of the surrounding primary AC. Although the best frequency (BF) of these neurons shows a tendency to decrease from high to low along the anteroposterior axis of the primary AC, systematic variation in BF is not always consistent across the entire mapping area. In particular, BFs of cortical neurons isolated in the anterior AC vary quite unsystematically such that neurons with similar BFs are aggregated in isolated patches. Isofrequency and binaural columns are segregated into bands that intersect each other.