Prepontine non-giant neurons drive flexible escape behavior in zebrafish

Many species execute ballistic escape reactions to avoid imminent danger. Despite fast reaction times, responses are often highly regulated, reflecting a trade-off between costly motor actions and perceived threat level. However, how sensory cues are integrated within premotor escape circuits remains poorly understood. Here, we show that in zebrafish, less precipitous threats elicit a delayed escape, characterized by flexible trajectories, which are driven by a cluster of 38 prepontine neurons that are completely separate from the fast escape pathway. Whereas neurons that initiate rapid escapes receive direct auditory input and drive motor neurons, input and output pathways for delayed escapes are indirect, facilitating integration of cross-modal sensory information. These results show that rapid decision-making in the escape system is enabled by parallel pathways for ballistic responses and flexible delayed actions and defines a neuronal substrate for hierarchical choice in the vertebrate nervous system

Contralateral inhibition of click- and chirp-evoked human compound action potentials

Cochlear outer hair cells (OHC) receive direct efferent feedback from the caudal auditory brainstem via the medial olivocochlear (MOC) bundle. This circuit provides the neural substrate for the MOC reflex, which inhibits cochlear amplifier gain and is believed to play a role in listening in noise and protection from acoustic overexposure. The human MOC reflex has been studied extensively using otoacoustic emissions (OAE) paradigms; however, these measurements are insensitive to subsequent “downstream” efferent effects on the neural ensembles that mediate hearing. In this experiment, click- and chirp-evoked auditory nerve compound action potential (CAP) amplitudes were measured electrocochleographically from the human eardrum without and with MOC reflex activation elicited by contralateral broadband noise. We hypothesized that the chirp would be a more optimal stimulus for measuring neural MOC effects because it synchronizes excitation along the entire length of the basilar membrane and thus evokes a more robust CAP than a click at low to moderate stimulus levels. Chirps produced larger CAPs than clicks at all stimulus intensities (50–80 dB ppeSPL). MOC reflex inhibition of CAPs was larger for chirps than clicks at low stimulus levels when quantified both in terms of amplitude reduction and effective attenuation. Effective attenuation was larger for chirp- and click-evoked CAPs than for click-evoked OAEs measured from the same subjects. Our results suggest that the chirp is an optimal stimulus for evoking CAPs at low stimulus intensities and for assessing MOC reflex effects on the auditory nerve. Further, our work supports previous findings that MOC reflex effects at the level of the auditory nerve are underestimated by measures of OAE inhibition

Somatosensory tinnitus: current evidence and future perspectives

In some individuals, tinnitus can be modulated by specific maneuvers of the temporomandibular joint, head and neck, eyes, and limbs. Neuroplasticity seems to play a central role in this capacity for modulation, suggesting that abnormal interactions between the sensory modalities, sensorimotor systems, and neurocognitive and neuroemotional networks may contribute to the development of somatosensory tinnitus. Current evidence supports a link between somatic disorders and higher modulation of tinnitus, especially in patients with a normal hearing threshold. Patients with tinnitus who have somatic disorders seems to have a higher chance of modulating their tinnitus with somatic maneuvers; consistent improvements in tinnitus symptoms have been observed in patients with temporomandibular joint disease following targeted therapy for temporomandibular disorders. Somatosensory tinnitus is often overlooked by otolaryngologists and not fully investigated during the diagnostic process. Somatic disorders, when identified and treated, can be a valid therapeutic target for tinnitus; however, somatic screening of subjects for somatosensory tinnitus is imperative for correct selection of patients who would benefit from a multidisciplinary somatic approach

Mechanisms underlying the production of carapace vibrations and associated waterborne sounds in the American lobster, Homarus americanus

American lobsters produce carapace vibrations, which also lead to waterborne acoustic signals, by simultaneously contracting the antagonistic remotor and promotor muscles located at the base of the second antenna. These vibrations have a mean frequency of 183.1 Hz (range 87–261 Hz), range in duration from 68 to 1720 ms (mean 277.1 ms) and lead to waterborne sounds of similar frequencies. Lobsters most often produce these signals using only one pair of muscles at a time and alternate between the muscles of the left and right antennae when making a series of vibrations. Occasionally, they vibrate their carapace by simultaneously contracting both sets of muscles. While the remotor muscle is required for producing carapace vibrations, the promotor appears to play a secondary role. Electrical stimulation of the remotor, but not the promotor, results in the production of vibrations, while lesions of the remotor, but not promotor, eliminate the ability of lobsters to vibrate their carapace. Lobsters of all sizes and both sexes produce these signals when startled, grasped or threatened. However, at this time, the behavioral significance of vibration and/or sound production by American lobsters is not known

Similarities between action potentials and acoustic pulses in a van der Waals fluid

An action potential is typically described as a purely electrical change that propagates along the membrane of excitable cells. However, recent experiments have demonstrated that non-linear acoustic pulses that propagate along lipid interfaces and traverse the melting transition, share many similar properties with action potentials. Despite the striking experimental similarities, a comprehensive theoretical study of acoustic pulses in lipid systems is still lacking. Here we demonstrate that an idealized description of an interface near phase transition captures many properties of acoustic pulses in lipid monolayers, as well as action potentials in living cells. The possibility that action potentials may better be described as acoustic pulses in soft interfaces near phase transition is illustrated by the following similar properties: correspondence of time and velocity scales, qualitative pulse shape, sigmoidal response to stimulation amplitude (an `all-or-none' behavior), appearance in multiple observables (particularly, an adiabatic change of temperature), excitation by many types of stimulations, as well as annihilation upon collision. An implication of this work is that crucial functional information of the cell may be overlooked by focusing only on electrical measurements.Comment: 8 pages, 5 figure

EFFECTS OF ACOUSTIC STIMULATION ON BIOPHYSICAL PROFILE TESTING TIME

Biophysical profile (BPP) test is the most commonly used antenatal test of fetal well-being. Purpose of this study is determining the influence of acoustic stimulation (AS) on BPP testing time. About 55 pregnant women at 35 to 42 weeks who referred to department of Obstetric & Gynecology at university of medical sciences, Tabriz, Iran, were selected randomly. We used abdominal ultrasound guidance to place buzzer like device with power of 110 dB at the skin surface of the maternal abdomen, close to the fetal head. BPP test performed and BPP mean testing time calculated before and after AS. Data compared and analyzed by paired t-test. The results showed that fetal AS reduces the overall mean testing time from 24 minutes to 5 minutes. This clinical application can be helpful in busy clinics when rapid assessment of fetal health is required

Dynamic models in fMRI

Most statistical methods for assessing activated voxels in fMRI experiments are based on correlation or regression analysis. In this context the main assumptions are that the baseline can be described by a few known basis-functions or variables and that the effect of the stimulus, i.e. the activation, stays constant over time. As these assumptions are in many cases neither necessary nor correct, a new dynamic approach that does not depend on those suppositions will be presented. This allows for simultaneous nonparametric estimation of the baseline as well as the time-varying effect of stimulation. This method of estimating the stimulus related areas of the brain furthermore provides the possibility of an analysis of the temporal and spatial development of the activation within an fMRI-experiment

OPA1-related auditory neuropathy: site of lesion and outcome of cochlear implantation.

Hearing impairment is the second most prevalent clinical feature after optic atrophy in Dominant Optic Atrophy associated with mutations in the OPA1 gene. In this study we characterized the hearing dysfunction in OPA1-linked disorders and provided effective rehabilitative options to improve speech perception. We studied two groups of OPA1 subjects, one comprising 11 patients (7 males; age range 13-79 years) carrying OPA1 mutations inducing haploinsufficiency, the other, 10 subjects (3 males; age range 5-58 years) carrying OPA1 missense mutations. Both groups underwent audiometric assessment with pure tone and speech perception evaluation, and otoacoustic emissions and auditory brainstem response recording. Cochlear potentials were recorded through transtympanic electrocochleography from the group of patients harboring OPA1 missense mutations and were compared to recordings obtained from 20 normally-hearing controls and from 19 subjects with cochlear hearing loss. Eight patients carrying OPA1 missense mutations underwent cochlear implantation. Speech perception measures and electrically-evoked auditory nerve and brainstem responses were obtained after one year of cochlear implant use. Nine out of 11 patients carrying OPA1 mutations inducing haploinsufficiency had normal hearing function. In contrast, all but one subject harboring OPA1 missense mutations displayed impaired speech perception, abnormal brainstem responses and presence of otoacoustic emissions consistent with auditory neuropathy. In electrocochleography recordings, cochlear microphonic had enhanced amplitudes while summating potential showed normal latency and peak amplitude consistent with preservation of both outer and inner hair cell activities. After cancelling the cochlear microphonic, the synchronized neural response seen in both normally-hearing controls and subjects with cochlear hearing loss was replaced by a prolonged, low-amplitude negative potential that decreased in both amplitude and duration during rapid stimulation consistent with neural generation. The use of cochlear implant improved speech perception in all but one patient. Brainstem potentials were recorded in response to electrical stimulation in five subjects out of six, whereas no compound action potential was evoked from the auditory nerve through the cochlear implant. These findings indicate that underlying the hearing impairment in patients carrying OPA1 missense mutations is a disordered synchrony in auditory nerve fiber activity resulting from neural degeneration affecting the terminal dendrites. Cochlear implantation improves speech perception and synchronous activation of auditory pathways by by-passing the site of lesion