Abstract

Layer 5 (L5) cortical projection neurons innervate far-ranging brain areas to coordinate integrative sensory processing and adaptive behaviors. Here, we characterize a plasticity in L5 auditory cortex (ACtx) neurons that innervate the inferior colliculus (IC), thalamus, lateral amygdala and striatum. We track daily changes in sound processing using chronic widefield calcium imaging of L5 axon terminals on the dorsal cap of the IC in awake, adult mice. Sound level growth functions at the level of the auditory nerve and corticocollicular axon terminals are both strongly depressed hours after noise-induced damage of cochlear afferent synapses. Corticocollicular response gain rebounded above baseline levels by the following day and remained elevated for several weeks despite a persistent reduction in auditory nerve input. Sustained potentiation of excitatory ACtx projection neurons that innervate multiple limbic and subcortical auditory centers may underlie hyperexcitability and aberrant functional coupling of distributed brain networks in tinnitus and hyperacusis.

Highlights

  • Layer 5 (L5) auditory cortex (ACtx) neurons that innervate the inferior colliculus (IC), thalamus, lateral amygdala and striatum

  • Dual retrograde tracer studies have emphasized that ACtx L5 projections to downstream targets are anatomically separate, such that

  • L5 neurons that project to the inferior colliculus (CCol) are largely separate from those that project to the lateral amygdala, contralateral cortex and so forth[31,32]

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Summary

Introduction

L5 auditory cortex (ACtx) neurons that innervate the inferior colliculus (IC), thalamus, lateral amygdala and striatum. We track daily changes in sound processing using chronic widefield calcium imaging of L5 axon terminals on the dorsal cap of the IC in awake, adult mice. Sound level growth functions at the level of the auditory nerve and corticocollicular axon terminals are both strongly depressed hours after noise-induced damage of cochlear afferent synapses. Corticocollicular response gain rebounded above baseline levels by the following day and remained elevated for several weeks despite a persistent reduction in auditory nerve input. Sustained potentiation of excitatory ACtx projection neurons that innervate multiple limbic and subcortical auditory centers may underlie hyperexcitability and aberrant functional coupling of distributed brain networks in tinnitus and hyperacusis. 2 Division of Medical Sciences, Harvard University, Boston, MA. T he auditory system employs a variety of gain control mechanisms to encode fluctuations in acoustic signal energies that can vary by over a million-million fold

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