Responses In Inferior Colliculus Research Articles

Auditory-evoked responses in cats with tenotomized middle ear muscles during sleep.

Click-evoked electrical responses were recorded from specific auditory centers and the cerebellum of free-moving cats during natural sleep. Stability of auditory input was achieved by tenotomizing the middle ear muscles and applying the stimulus through an earphone fixed to the cat's head. The most striking changes of responsiveness were observed during the bursts of rapid eye movements which occur during sleep with desynchronized EEG. These changes were i) a marked increase of the initial positive-negative complex of the response recorded from area A I, ii) a depression or abolition of the late component of the inferior colliculus response; iii) a depression or abolition of the cerebellar response. Simultaneous recordings from the first order neuronal level of the auditory pathway showed no change, thus pointing to a central origin of the described phenomena.