Adaptation In Sensory Systems Research Articles

Nonequilibrium dynamics of adaptation in sensory systems.

Adaptation is used by biological sensory systems to respond to a wide range of environmental signals, by adapting their response properties to the statistics of the stimulus in order to maximize information transmission. We derive rules of optimal adaptation to changes in the mean and variance of a continuous stimulus in terms of Bayesian filters and map them onto stochastic equationsthat couple the state of the environment to an internal variable controlling the response function. We calculate numerical and exact results for the speed and accuracy of adaptation and its impact on information transmission. We find that, in the regime of efficient adaptation, the speed of adaptation scales sublinearly with the rate of change of the environment. Finally, we exploit the mathematical equivalence between adaptation and stochastic thermodynamics to quantitatively relate adaptation to the irreversibility of the adaptation time course, defined by the rate of entropy production. Our results suggest a means to empirically quantify adaptation in a model-free and nonparametric way.

A Review on Fish Sensory Systems and Amazon Water Types With Implications to Biodiversity

The Amazon has the highest richness of freshwater organisms in the world, which has led to a multitude of hypotheses on the mechanisms that generated this biodiversity. However, most of these hypotheses focus on the spatial distance of populations, a framework that fails to provide an explicit mechanism of speciation. Ecological conditions in Amazon freshwaters can be strikingly distinct, as it has been recognized since Alfred Russel Wallace’s categorization into black, white, and blue (= clear) waters. Water types reflect differences in turbidity, dissolved organic matter, electrical conductivity, pH, amount of nutrients and lighting environment, characteristics that directly affect the sensory abilities of aquatic organisms. Since natural selection drives evolution of sensory systems to function optimally according to environmental conditions, the sensory systems of Amazon freshwater organisms are expected to vary according to their environment. When differences in sensory systems affect chances of interbreeding between populations, local adaptations may result in speciation. Here, we briefly present the limnologic characteristics of Amazonian water types and how they are expected to influence photo-, chemical-, mechano-, and electro-reception of aquatic organisms, focusing on fish. We put forward that the effect of different water types on the adaptation of sensory systems is an important mechanism that contributed to the evolution of fish diversity. We point toward underexplored research perspectives on how divergent selection may act on sensory systems and thus contribute to the origin and maintenance of the biodiversity of Amazon aquatic environments.

Proton transfer unlocks inactivation in cyclic nucleotide‐gated A1 channels

Desensitization and inactivation provide a form of short-term memory controlling the firing patterns of excitable cells and adaptation in sensory systems. Unlike many of their cousin K(+) channels, cyclic nucleotide-gated (CNG) channels are thought not to desensitize or inactivate. Here we report that CNG channels do inactivate and that inactivation is controlled by extracellular protons. Titration of a glutamate residue within the selectivity filter destabilizes the pore architecture, which collapses towards a non-conductive, inactivated state in a process reminiscent of the usual C-type inactivation observed in many K(+) channels. These results indicate that inactivation in CNG channels represents a regulatory mechanism that has been neglected thus far, with possible implications in several physiological processes ranging from signal transduction to growth cone navigation. Ion channels control ionic fluxes across biological membranes by residing in any of three functionally distinct states: deactivated (closed), activated (open) or inactivated (closed). Unlike many of their cousin K(+) channels, cyclic nucleotide-gated (CNG) channels do not desensitize or inactivate. Using patch recording techniques, we show that when extracellular pH (pHo ) is decreased from 7.4 to 6 or lower, wild-type CNGA1 channels inactivate in a voltage-dependent manner. pHo titration experiments show that at pHo <7 the I-V relationships are outwardly rectifying and that inactivation is coupled to current rectification. Single-channel recordings indicate that a fast mechanism of proton blockage underlines current rectification while inactivation arises from conformational changes downstream from protonation. Furthermore, mutagenesis and ionic substitution experiments highlight the role of the selectivity filter in current decline, suggesting analogies with the C-type inactivation observed in K(+) channels. Analysis with Markovian models indicates that the non-independent binding of two protons within the transmembrane electrical field explains both the voltage-dependent blockage and the inactivation. Low pH, by inhibiting the CNGA1 channels in a state-dependent manner, may represent an unrecognized endogenous signal regulating CNG physiological functions in diverse tissues.

Adaptation in electric hearing: analysis of level and amplitude modulation encoding

Neural adaptation in sensory systems can potentially improve the efficiency and fidelity of neural encoding (e.g. [1]). In the auditory system, for instance, the firing rates of peripheral and midbrain neurons can shift to better represent the range of most likely stimulus levels [2,3]. Adaptation has long been known to exist throughout the auditory system in response to acoustic stimulation, and now studies have revealed that the auditory nerve exhibits firing rate adaptation in response to electric stimulation [4]. Adaptation may, therefore, have important implications for the function and design of cochlear implants, but there have been few attempts to investigate the relationship between neural adaptation, cochlear implant design, and listening outcomes for cochlear implant users. We hypothesize that it will be possible to identify time scales of adaptation that optimally encode a stimulus, depending on the time scales of the stimulus. The time course of adaptation appears to depend on stimulus parameters [5], so if our hypothesis is true, then it may be possible to design stimulation strategies that induce adaptation in a way that improves encoding of cochlear implant stimuli. To address this hypothesis, we use a point process model to simulate the response of an auditory nerve cell to electric stimulation. The model replicates known features of the auditory nerve’s response to electric stimulation including spike threshold, input/output function, and refractory effects. For this study, we implement firing rate adaptation in the model via a spike-history feedback mechanism. The adaptation component has two parameters that control the time scale and degree of adaptation. We simulate the effect of adaptation on encoding of stimulus level and sinusoidal amplitude modulation. We use the likelihood function associated with the point process model to quantify spike timing information, as well as common measures of spike count information, strength of phase-locking to the amplitude-modulated signal, and signal-to-noise ratio of firing rates. We find that at high stimulus levels, firing rate adaptation prevents saturation and therefore improves sensitivity to level increments and modulation. In response to weaker stimuli, adaptation typically degrades the encoding of level and amplitude modulation. In general, we find that the degree, not time scale, of adaptation is the more important factor in determining the effect of adaptation on encoding. In order to further probe the effects of the time scale of adaptation, we analyze neural encoding of dynamic stimuli that feature multiple time scales and non-stationary levels.

Development, Plasticity and Adaptation of Sensory Systems

Development, Plasticity and Adaptation of Sensory Systems

Psychoacoustic demonstrations of adaptation in hearing

Adaptation in sensory systems involves a decline in the responsiveness to a steady stimulus with time. Three acoustic demonstrations will be presented to illustrate psychoacoustic phenomena that are thought to be related to adaptation processes. (1) Overshoot: The detectability of a brief tonal signal is often improved when its onset is delayed relative to the onset of a wide‐band masker. (2) Enhancement for nonspeech sounds: The detectability of a pure‐tone component in a complex sound is often improved when it is preceded by a complex in which the energy in the corresponding frequency region has been reduced. (3) Enhancement for speech sounds: Vowel‐like sounds are often perceived from spectrally flat harmonic complexes when they are preceded by complexes in which the energy in the frequency regions corresponding to that vowel's formants has been reduced.