Specialization of Neurons with Different Response Patterns in the Mouse Mus musculus Auditory Midbrain and Primary Auditory Cortex during Communication Call Processing

Wriggling call produced by mouse pups when struggling in the nest is one of the mouse early ontogenesis communicative vocalization. Processing of these signals by auditory midbrain and primary auditory cortex neurons with different response patterns was the subject of this study. Responses of single neurons evoked by wriggling call models and a series of models consisting of 4 stimuli with different interstimulus intervals (0–1000 ms) were recorded extracellularly. A third of central nucleus neurons in the inferior colliculus showed a spectral facilitation in responses to various two- and three-tone combinations of the wriggling call frequency components. About 80% of such combination-sensitive neurons had tonic characteristics of responses, i.e. tonic, phasic-tonic, pauser and long-latency discharges. A study of responses of central nucleus neurons to a series of wriggling call models showed that at short interstimulus intervals (0–50 ms) responses to the 2nd–4th signals in a series were completely suppressed or significantly decreased in two-thirds of the recorded neurons, i.e. there arose adaptation to a series of sounds. Such neurons had mainly phasic discharges. In a third of neurons, adaptation did not arise; these neurons were tonically discharging. All neurons in the primary auditory cortex (anterior and primary auditory fields) demonstrated adaptation in responses to a series of wriggling calls. Discharges of neurons were phasic.