Structural Changes and Lack of HCN1 Channels in the Binaural Auditory Brainstem of the Naked Mole-Rat (Heterocephalus glaber)

摘要: Naked mole-rats (Heterocephalus glaber) live in large eu-social, underground colonies narrow burrows and are exposed to a repertoire of communication signals but negligible binaural sound localization cues, such as interaural time intensity differences. We therefore asked whether monaural auditory brainstem nuclei the naked mole-rat differentially adjusted this acoustic environment. Using antibody stainings against excitatory inhibitory presynaptic structures, namely vesicular glutamate transporter VGluT1 glycine GlyT2 we identified all major except superior paraolivary nucleus these animals. possess well structured medial olive, with similar synaptic arrangement interaural-time-difference encoding The neighboring lateral which analyzes differences, is elongated, whereas trapezoid body, provides contralateral input nuclei, reduced size. In contrast, cochlear nucleus, lemniscus inferior colliculus not considerably different when compared other rodent species. Most interestingly, lack membrane-bound hyperpolarization-activated channel HCN1, voltage-gated ion that greatly contributes fast integration times olivary complex This suggests substantially lengthened membrane constants thus prolonged temporal inputs neurons might be linked severely degenerated abilities