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The Relative Significance of Signal Amplitude and Rate of Its Change for Spike Generation in Amphibian Medullary Auditory Neurons

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Abstract

We investigated the responses of single neurons in the dorsal medullar nucleus of the grass frog (Rana temporaria L.) to tones with amplitude modulated by repetitive segments of low-frequency noise. The carrier frequency corresponded to the neuronal characteristic frequency within the range of 0.2-2.0 kHz. The responses were compared with current instantaneous values of the signal amplitude and the rate of its change. We detected neurons with responses modulated either by the current signal amplitude, or the rate of change in the amplitude, or a combination of both parameters. In the vast majority of neurons, the rate of change in the amplitude played a crucial role in spike generation. The data obtained were compared with functional features of neurons located in the mammalian cochlear nucleus.

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Acknowledgments

Programming was carried out by S.V. Nizamov.

Funding

This work was supported by the Russian Foundation for Basic Research; grant no. 16-04-01066.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. N.N. Andreev Acoustics Institute, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia

    N. G. Bibikov

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  1. N. G. Bibikov
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Correspondence to N. G. Bibikov.

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All applicable international, national and institutional principles of handling and using experimental animals for scientific purposes were observed. This study did not involve human subjects as research objects.

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Russian Text © The Author(s), 2020, published in Zhurnal Evolyutsionnoi Biokhimii i Fiziologii, 2020, Vol. 56, No. 1, pp. 62–72.

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Bibikov, N.G. The Relative Significance of Signal Amplitude and Rate of Its Change for Spike Generation in Amphibian Medullary Auditory Neurons. J Evol Biochem Phys 56, 63–74 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1134/S0022093020010081

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1134/S0022093020010081

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