I. Saitoh et N. Suga, LONG DELAY-LINES FOR RANGING ARE CREATED BY INHIBITION IN THE INFERIOR COLLICULUS OF THE MOUSTACHED BAT, Journal of neurophysiology, 74(1), 1995, pp. 1-11
1. The central auditory system of the mustached bat has arrays of dela
y-tuned (FM-FM combination-sensitive) neurons in the inferior collicul
us, the medial geniculate body, and the auditory cortex. These neurons
are tuned to particular echo delays, i.e., target distances. The neur
al mechanisms for creating the delay-tuned neurons involve delay lines
, coincidence detection, and amplification. We have hypothesized that
delay lines longer than 4 ms are created by inhibition occurring in th
e anterolateral division (ALD) of the central nucleus of the inferior
colliculus. If this hypothesis is correct, suppression of inhibition o
ccurring in the ALD must shorten the best delays of the collicular, th
alamic, and cortical delay-tuned neurons. The aim of the present study
is to test this hypothesis. Responses of single delay-tuned neurons i
n the FM-FM area of the auditory cortex were recorded with a tungsten-
wire microelectrode, and the effects of iontophoretic microinjections
of strychnine (STR) and/or bicuculline methiodide (BMI) into the ALD w
ere examined on the responses of these neurons. 2. STR(glycine recepto
r antagonist) and/or BMI [gamma-aminobutyric acid-A (GABA(A)) receptor
antagonist] injections into the ALD shortened the best delays of dela
y-tuned neurons in the FM-FM area with little change in their response
patterns. The longer the best delay of a delay-tuned neuron, the larg
er the amount of shortening. 3. Inhibition mediated by glycine recepto
rs plays a larger role in creating delay lines than that mediated by G
ABA(A) receptors, because STR and BMI, respectively, shortened the bes
t delay of 91 and 74% of the neurons with best delays longer than 4.5
ms. 4. BMI has no effect on the best delays of delay-tuned neurons tha
t were tuned to echo delays shorter than 4.5 ms. 5. The present data s
upport the hypothesis that long delay lines utilized by delay-tuned ne
urons are created by inhibition occurring in the ALD of the inferior c
olliculus. However, the amount of shortening in delay lines by STR and
/or BMI was generally smaller than that predicted by a neural network
model. Therefore the present study partially answers the questions of
where and how long delay lines were created.