The pattern of Fos expression in the rat auditory brainstem changes with the temporal structure of binaural electrical intracochlear stimulation

The immediate-early-gene c-fos with its protein product Fos has been used as a powerful tool to investigate neuronal activity and plasticity following sensory stimulation. Fos combines with Jun, another IEG product, to form the dimeric transcription factor activator protein 1 (AP-1) which has been implied in a variety of cellular functions like neuronal plasticity, apoptosis, and regeneration. The intracellular emergence of Fos indicates a functional state of nerve cells directed towards molecular and morphological changes. The central auditory system is construed to detect stimulus intensity, spectral composition, and binaural balance through neurons organized in a complex network of ascending, descending and commissural pathways. Here we compare monaural and binaural electrical intracochlear stimulation (EIS) in normal hearing and early postnatally deafened rats. Binaural stimulation was done either synchronously or asynchronously. The auditory brainstem of hearing and deaf rats responds differently, with a dramatically increasing Fos expression in the deaf group so as if the network had no pre-orientation for how to organize sensory activity. Binaural EIS does not result in a trivial sum of 2 independent monaural EIS, as asynchronous stimulation invokes stronger Fos activation compared to synchronous stimulation almost everywhere in the auditory brainstem. The differential response to synchronicity of the stimulation puts emphasis on the importance of the temporal structure of EIS with respect to its potential for changing brain structure and brain function in stimulus-specific ways. [Display omitted] •Neuronal populations in the auditory brainstem of hearing and deaf rats respond differently to binaural stimulation.•Under identical stimulation conditions, many more Fos positive neurons are found in deaf rats than in hearing rats.•Binaural EIS does not result in a trivial sum of twice a monaural EIS.•Asynchronous binaural stimulation induces more (or at least as many) Fos expressing neurons than synchronous stimulation.•The translation of spike timing into specific patterns of neuronal gene expression depends on hearing experience.