Journal article
Response Properties of the Refractory Auditory Nerve Fiber
Journal of the Association for Research in Otolaryngology, Vol.2(3), pp.216-232
09/01/2001
DOI: 10.1007/s101620010083
PMCID: PMC3201673
PMID: 11669395
Abstract
The refractory characteristics of auditory nerve fibers limit their ability to accurately encode temporal information. Therefore, they are relevant to the design of cochlear prostheses. It is also possible that the refractory property could be exploited by prosthetic devices to improve information transfer, as refractoriness may enhance the nerve's stochastic properties. Furthermore, refractory data are needed for the development of accurate computational models of auditory nerve fibers. We applied a two-pulse forward-masking paradigm to a feline model of the human auditory nerve to assess refractory properties of single fibers. Each fiber was driven to refractoriness by a single (masker) current pulse delivered intracochlearly. Properties of firing efficiency, latency, jitter, spike amplitude, and relative spread (a measure of dynamic range and stochasticity) were examined by exciting fibers with a second (probe) pulse and systematically varying the masker-probe interval (MPI). Responses to monophasic cathodic current pulses were analyzed. We estimated the mean absolute refractory period to be about 330 μs and the mean recovery time constant to be about 410 μs. A significant proportion of fibers (13 of 34) responded to the probe pulse with MPIs as short as 500 μs. Spike amplitude decreased with decreasing MPI, a finding relevant to the development of computational nerve-fiber models, interpretation of gross evoked potentials, and models of more central neural processing. A small mean decrement in spike jitter was noted at small MPI values. Some trends (such as spike latency-vs-MPI) varied across fibers, suggesting that sites of excitation varied across fibers. Relative spread was found to increase with decreasing MPI values, providing direct evidence that stochastic properties of fibers are altered under conditions of refractoriness.
Details
- Title: Subtitle
- Response Properties of the Refractory Auditory Nerve Fiber
- Creators
- Charles A. Miller - University of IowaPaul J. Abbas - University of IowaBarbara K. Robinson - University of Iowa
- Resource Type
- Journal article
- Publication Details
- Journal of the Association for Research in Otolaryngology, Vol.2(3), pp.216-232
- DOI
- 10.1007/s101620010083
- PMID
- 11669395
- PMCID
- PMC3201673
- NLM abbreviation
- J Assoc Res Otolaryngol
- ISSN
- 1525-3961
- eISSN
- 1438-7573
- Publisher
- Springer-Verlag
- Language
- English
- Date published
- 09/01/2001
- Academic Unit
- Otolaryngology
- Record Identifier
- 9984383910002771
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