Detection of Synchrony in the Activity of Auditory Nerve Fibers by Octopus Cells of the Mammalian Cochlear Nucleus

• Published in: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences - PNAS Vol. 97; no. 22; pp. 11773 - 11779
• Main Authors: Oertel, Donata, Bal, Ramazan, Gardner, Stephanie M., Smith, Philip H., Joris, Philip X.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 24.10.2000; National Acad Sciences; National Academy of Sciences; The National Academy of Sciences
• Series: Colloquium Paper
• Subjects: Acoustic Stimulation; Action potentials; Animals; Aquatic life; Auditory nerve; Cats; Cell nucleus; Cells; Cochlear Nerve - physiology; Cochlear nucleus; Cochlear Nucleus - cytology; Cochlear Nucleus - physiology; Ears & hearing; Electric current; Electric potential; Giant cells; Membrane potential; Nerve Fibers - physiology; Nervous system; Neurons; Octopuses; Papers from the National Academy of Sciences Colloquium on Auditory Neuroscience: Development, Transduction, and Integration; Sound; Synaptic Transmission

The anatomical and biophysical specializations of octopus cells allow them to detect the coincident firing of groups of auditory nerve fibers and to convey the precise timing of that coincidence to their targets. Octopus cells occupy a sharply defined region of the most caudal and dorsal part of the...