Pharmacology of the inferior colliculus

Abstract

The inferior colliculus (IC) receives convergent projections from a diversity of sources within the auditory pathway and is an important midbrain structure for processing acoustic information. The characteristics of the neurotransmitters and neuromodulators acting at synapses on the somata and dendrites of IC neurons are critically important in shaping responses to both monaural and binaural stimuli. The ways in which IC neurons encode information about complex sounds are determined in large measure by the neurotransmitters and receptors that regulate and control synaptic responses as well as the circuitry and biophysical properties of the neurons and their processes (see Chapter 10). The present chapter examines how the principal amino acid neurotransmitters, acting through ionotropic receptors, influence IC coding. We briefly consider how other identified neurotransmitters and neuromodulators influence the response properties of IC neurons and circuits.