Elsevier

Neuroscience

Volume 136, Issue 3, 2005, Pages 945-955
Neuroscience

Quantitative assessment of developing afferent patterns in the cat inferior colliculus revealed with calbindin immunohistochemistry and tract tracing methods

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroscience.2005.03.020Get rights and content

Abstract

The central nucleus of the inferior colliculus (CNIC) is comprised of an orderly series of fibrodendritic layers. These layers include integrative circuitry for as many as 13 different ascending auditory pathways, each tonotopically ordered. Calcium-binding proteins, such as calbindin-D28k (CB), may be useful neurochemical markers for specific subsets of afferent input in these layers and their spatial organization that are developmentally regulated. In this study, CB-immunohistochemistry was used to examine 1–42 postnatal-day-old kitten and adult cat CNIC and anterograde tracers were used to label afferent projections from the lateral superior olivary nucleus (LSO) to the CNIC at similar ages. A distinct axonal plexus that is CB-immunopositive is described. This CB-afferent compartment is present at birth and persists throughout the ages examined. Already at birth, the CB-immunostained plexus in kitten CNIC is organized into discrete bands that are approximately 75μm thick and 500μm long. In adult CNIC, the periodic banded pattern of CB-immunostained fibers is similar to that in kittens albeit bands are thicker (145μm) and longer (700μm). Growth in band thickness in adult cat appears proportional to growth of the IC, whereas length of the dense CB-immunostained bands is somewhat more focused in the central region of fibrodendritic layers. The banded pattern of the CB-immunostained plexus is well correlated with the location and dimension of afferent projections from the LSO in newborn kitten labeled with carbocyanine dye, 1,1′-dioctodecyl-3,3,3′,3′-tetramethylindocarbocyanine perchlorate and in adult cat labeled with wheat germ agglutinin conjugated with horseradish peroxidase. The results reveal a neurochemical marker for one type of synaptic compartment in CNIC layers, banding, that is organized before hearing onset in kittens, but that may undergo some postnatal pruning.

Section snippets

Experimental procedures

Brains for this study were obtained from five adult cats and 10 kittens (1, 4, 8, 11, 15, 28, and 42 postnatal-days-old (P)). All animal care and experimental procedures were carried out so as to minimize the number of animals used and any pain or suffering and were in compliance with the Guide for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals in facilities accredited by the American Association for the Accreditation of Laboratory Animal Care (AAALAC). Experimental protocols were approved by the

CB-immunostained afferent compartment in CNIC in neonatal kitten

At birth (P1), about a week before hearing onset in kittens (Shipley et al 1980, Walsh and McGee 1987), a dense afferent plexus in the IC was immunostained for CB (Fig. 1). There was a decreasing gradient in distribution of CB-immunostained cells from the superficial layers to the deep layers of the DCIC that continued into the central region of IC (Zettel et al 1991, Kelley et al 1992, Friauf 1994, Forster and Illing 2000). In contrast, the dense plexus of heavily CB-immunostained axonal

Discussion

The results show that CB immunostaining in CNIC includes an afferent plexus distributed in distinct bands parallel to fibrodendritic layers. CB bands are present at birth in kittens as well as in adult cats. Compared with CB bands in kittens, adult CB bands increase markedly in thickness, but are only slightly longer. However, these changes in CB band thickness and length differ significantly relative to overall IC growth. On the one hand, as IC size increases, relative band thickness and

Acknowledgments

Supported by DC 04412, DC 00813, NS 36916 and NS 35008.

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