Functional Development of Principal Neurons in the Anteroventral Cochlear Nucleus Extends Beyond Hearing Onset

What is it about?

When we hear sounds, specialized cells in the cochlea, called hair cells, turn them into electrical signals. These signals are then sent as nerve impulses to different brain cells. Two types of those cells, called bushy cells (BCs) and stellate cells (SCs) have unique features to help process different aspects of sound Here, we aimed to understand how these cells develop in mice. So, we recorded their activity from when the mice were young (P12) until they were fully grown (P30). We found that by P14, the mice already had adult-like hearing abilities. But in BCs, some features like how fast they can fire and how they respond to sounds continued to improve until P18. In SCs, the development of their responses took even longer, getting better until P30. In short, this indicates that some of the brain cells responsible for hearing in mice develop differently and at different rates, which may be influenced by their early experiences with sound.

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