Excitotoxic lesions of the superior colliculus preferentially impact multisensory neurons and multisensory integration |
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Authors: | Luke R Burnett Barry E Stein Jr" target="_blank">Thomas J PerraultJr Mark T Wallace |
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Institution: | (1) Department of Neurobiology and Anatomy, Wake Forest University School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, NC 27157, USA;(2) Vanderbilt Kennedy Center for Research on Human Development, Department of Hearing and Speech Sciences, Vanderbilt University, 465 21st Avenue South, Nashville, TN 37232, USA;(3) Present address: Department of Neural and Behavioral Sciences, Penn State University College of Medicine, Hershey, PA 17033, USA |
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Abstract: | The superior colliculus (SC) plays an important role in integrating visual, auditory and somatosensory information, and in
guiding the orientation of the eyes, ears and head. Previously we have shown that cats with unilateral SC lesions showed a
preferential loss of multisensory orientation behaviors for stimuli contralateral to the lesion. Surprisingly, this behavioral
loss was seen even under circumstances where the SC lesion was far from complete. To assess the physiological changes induced
by these lesions, we employed single unit electrophysiological methods to record from individual neurons in both the intact
and damaged SC following behavioral testing in two animals. In the damaged SC of these animals, multisensory neurons were
preferentially reduced in incidence, comprising less than 25% of the sensory-responsive population (as compared with 49% on
the control side). In those multisensory neurons that remained following the lesion, receptive fields were nearly twofold
larger, and less than 25% showed normal patterns of multisensory integration, with those that did being found in areas outside
of the lesion. These results strongly suggest that the multisensory behavioral deficits seen following SC lesions are the
combined result of a loss of multisensory neurons and a loss of multisensory integration in those neurons that remain. |
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Keywords: | Cross-modal NMDA Plasticity |
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