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Evoked cochlear potentials in the barn owl

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Abstract

Gross electrical responses to tone bursts were measured in adult barn owls, using a single-ended wire electrode placed onto the round window. Cochlear microphonic (CM) and compound action potential (CAP) responses were evaluated separately. Both potentials were physiologically vulnerable. Selective abolishment of neural responses at high frequencies confirmed that the CAP was of neural origin, while the CM remained unaffected. CAP latencies decreased with increasing stimulus frequency and CAP amplitudes were correlated with known variations in afferent fibre numbers from the different papillar regions. This suggests a local origin of the CAP along the tonotopic gradient within the basilar papilla. The audiograms derived from CAP and CM threshold responses both showed a broad frequency region of optimal sensitivity, very similar to behavioural and single-unit data, but shifted upward in absolute sensitivity. CAP thresholds rose above 8 kHz, while CM responses showed unchanged sensitivity up to 10 kHz.

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Abbreviations

CAP:

Compound action potential

CM:

Cochlear microphonic

FFT:

Fast Fourier transform

RMS:

Root mean square

S-AMPA:

α-amino-3-hydroxy-5-methyl-4-isoxazole propionic acid

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Acknowledgments

We are grateful to Hermann Wagner for his generous gift of two owls used in this study. Geoff Manley kindly commented on an earlier version of the manuscript. Supported by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft through the SFB 204, a Heisenberg fellowship and an individual grant (Sachbeihilfe Ko 1143/11) to CK. Experiments complied with the “Principles of animal care”, publication No. 86–23, revised 1985 of the National Institute of Health. Animal husbandry and experimental protocols were approved by the Regierung von Oberbayern (AZ 211-2531-28/98).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Lehrstuhl für Zoologie, Technische Universität München, Lichtenbergstr. 4, 85747, Garching, Germany

    Christine Köppl & Otto Gleich

  2. Department of Physiology (F13), University of Sydney, NSW 2006, Sydney, Australia

    Christine Köppl

  3. HNO-Klinik, Universität Regensburg, Franz-Josef Strauß Allee 11, 93042, Regensburg, Germany

    Otto Gleich

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  1. Christine Köppl
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Correspondence to Christine Köppl.

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Köppl, C., Gleich, O. Evoked cochlear potentials in the barn owl. J Comp Physiol A 193, 601–612 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00359-007-0215-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00359-007-0215-0

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