Spatial-dependent suppressive aftereffect produced by a sound in the rat’s inferior colliculus is partially dependent on local inhibition

Abstract

In a natural acoustic environment, a preceding sound can suppress the perception of a succeeding sound which can lead to auditory phenomena such as forward masking and the precedence effect. The degree of suppression is dependent on the relationship between the sounds in sound quality, timing, and location. Correlates of such phenomena exist in sound-elicited activities of neurons in hearing-related brain structures. The present study recorded responses to pairs of leading-trailing sounds from ensembles of neurons in the rat’s inferior colliculus. Results indicated that a leading sound produced a suppressive aftereffect on the response to a trailing sound when the two sounds were colocalized at the ear contralateral to the site of recording (i.e., the ear that drives excitatory inputs to the inferior colliculus). The degree of suppression was reduced when the time gap between the two sounds was increased or when the leading sound was relocated to an azimuth at or close to the ipsilateral ear. Local blockage of the type-A γ-aminobutyric acid receptor partially reduced the suppressive aftereffect when a leading sound was at the contralateral ear but not at the ipsilateral ear. Local blockage of the glycine receptor partially reduced the suppressive aftereffect regardless of the location of the leading sound. Results suggest that a sound-elicited suppressive aftereffect in the inferior colliculus is partly dependent on local interaction between excitatory and inhibitory inputs which likely involves those from brainstem structures such as the superior paraolivary nucleus. These results are important for understanding neural mechanisms underlying hearing in a multiple-sound environment.