Auditory Information Processing in the Midbrain: Modulation by the Amygdala

中脑的听觉信息处理：杏仁核的调节

• 批准号: 7931018
• 负责人: JEFFREY JAMES WENSTRUP
• 金额: $ 10万
• 依托单位: NORTHEAST OHIO MEDICAL UNIVERSITY
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 财政年份: 2009
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2009-09-24 至 2010-09-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/7931018
• 关键词: Acoustics; Affect; Amygdaloid structure; Aspartate; Auditory; Auditory Perception; Auditory area; Auditory system; Basal Ganglia; Behavior; Behavioral; Brain; Brain Stem; Cell Nucleus; Chemicals; Chiroptera; Complex; Deposition; Echolocation; Electric Stimulation; Electrodes; Emotional; Emotions; Frequencies; Glutamates; Goals; Inferior Colliculus; Label; Learning; Mediating; Methods; Midbrain structure; Modeling; Neurons; Noise; Pathway interactions; Physiological; Play; Population; Process; Property; Prosencephalon; Research; Research Personnel; Role; Sensory; Signal Transduction; Site; Speech; Stimulus; Testing; Tinnitus; Tracer; Work; association cortex; auditory pathway; base; improved; information processing; magnocellular; programs; research study; response; retrograde transport; showing emotion; social; social communication; sonar; sound; vocalization

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The long-term goal of this research is to understand how analyses of complex sounds are modified by brain centers that establish the emotional significance of auditory and other sensory input. The proposed research will examine a newly described direct pathway from the amygdala, a forebrain center mediating emotional expression, to the inferior colliculus (IC), the midbrain integration center of the ascending auditory system. The direct amygdalo-collicular projection may impose emotional content onto auditory processing at a relatively low level of the ascending auditory pathway. Moreover, this projection could mediate effects of auditory cortical activation that have been attributed to the direct cortico-collicular pathway. We hypothesize that the amygdalo-collicular projection modulates the integrative features of acoustic information processing in the IC based on emotional state and/or the emotional significance of recent sensory input. The project will examine how the amygdala modifies integrative auditory responses in the mustached bat's IC, where integrative auditory responses (termed combination-sensitive) analyze social and sonar vocalizations. The functional organization and origin of these responses in the IC and auditory brainstem are well understood. Connectional evidence suggests that amygdalo-collicular projection neurons contact combination-sensitive IC neurons. In Aim #1 of the proposed research, we will examine responses of single neurons or small clusters of neurons in the basolateral amygdala in response to simple acoustic signals and social and sonar vocalizations. The results will identify acoustic conditions under which the amygdalo-collicular pathway is active, and also develop a physiological "signature" to identify amygdalo-collicular neurons. Aim #2 will use anterograde and retrograde tract tracing to examine the organization of the amygdalo-collicular projection and circuits relating the amygdala, auditory cortex, and IC. Aim #3 will examine how chemical and electrical stimulation of the amygdala affects acoustic information processing for simple acoustic signals and complex vocalizations across the IC, using multi-channel recording methods. Aim #4 will test, using non-invasive cortical cooling, whether the amygdala affects IC neurons primarily through its direct pathway, or through its connections to auditory cortico-collicular neurons. Relevance: These studies will provide a better understanding of how our processing of acoustic signals including speech is modified by emotion-laden sounds or by our emotional state. They may further our understanding of the role of the amygdala in auditory learning. This work may also improve our understanding of the role of emotional centers in abnormal auditory perceptions such as tinnitus.

描述（由申请人提供）：这项研究的长期目标是了解大脑中心如何修改复杂声音的分析，从而确定听觉和其他感官输入的情感意义。拟议的研究将检查新描述的从杏仁核（介导情绪表达的前脑中心）到下丘（IC）（上行听觉系统的中脑整合中心）的直接通路。直接的杏仁核投射可以将情感内容强加到上行听觉通路相对较低水平的听觉处理上。此外，这种投射可以介导听觉皮层激活的影响，这种激活归因于直接的皮质-丘脑通路。我们假设杏仁核-丘脑投射根据情绪状态和/或最近感觉输入的情绪意义来调节 IC 中声学信息处理的综合特征。该项目将研究杏仁核如何修改小胡子蝙蝠 IC 中的综合听觉反应，其中综合听觉反应（称为组合敏感）分析社交和声纳发声。 IC 和听觉脑干中这些反应的功能组织和起源已被充分了解。连接证据表明杏仁核-丘脑投射神经元接触组合敏感的 IC 神经元。在拟议研究的目标#1中，我们将检查基底外侧杏仁核中单个神经元或小群神经元对简单声信号以及社交和声纳发声的反应。结果将识别杏仁核-丘脑通路活跃的声学条件，并形成生理“特征”来识别杏仁核-丘脑神经元。目标#2 将使用顺行和逆行束追踪来检查杏仁核-丘脑投射的组织以及与杏仁核、听觉皮层和 IC 相关的回路。目标 #3 将使用多通道记录方法，研究杏仁核的化学和电刺激如何影响 IC 上简单声信号和复杂发声的声学信息处理。目标 #4 将使用非侵入性皮质冷却来测试杏仁核是否主要通过其直接通路或通过其与听觉皮质-丘脑神经元的连接来影响 IC 神经元。相关性：这些研究将有助于更好地理解我们对声音信号（包括语音）的处理是如何被充满情感的声音或我们的情绪状态所改变的。它们可能会进一步加深我们对杏仁核在听觉学习中的作用的理解。这项工作还可能提高我们对情绪中心在耳鸣等异常听觉感知中的作用的理解。