Eneuro: long term exposure to dark conditions can affect brain networks and hearing

December 6, 2019 / bioun / -- scientists know that damage to the vision of adult mice will increase the sensitivity of some neurons dedicated to hearing in the brain A new study by biologists at the University of Maryland shows that vision loss also changes the way brain cells interact with each other, changes neural networks, and changes the sensitivity of mice The study was published in the recent issue of the Journal eneuro "This study reinforces what we're learning about how manipulation of vision can have a significant impact on the animal's auditory ability after thinking that the auditory learning window has been closed for a long time," said Patrick kanold, professor and senior researcher of UMD biology and the author of the paper It was once thought that after a critical period in a child, the sensory areas of the brain cannot adapt That's why children learn languages more easily than adults Kanold's early research refuted this view by demonstrating that depriving adult mice of short-term vision increases the sensitivity of individual neurons in the auditory cortex dedicated to hearing (image source: www Pixabay Com) the current study expands on earlier work Kanold and his team studied how exposure to dark environments affects the way neurons in the auditory cortex work together The researchers placed adult mice in a dark space for a week, then played 17 different tones and measured brain activity in the auditory cortex Based on their early work, kanold and his team expected to see changes in the neural network, but they were surprised to find that the neuron group changed in different ways Young brains assign auditory cortex areas to specific frequencies based on the sounds they often hear and their listening habits The researchers found that in adult mice, a week in darkness can also reallocate spatial cortical regions to different frequencies By examining the auditory cortex, the researchers found that the proportion of neurons sensitive to high and low frequencies increased, while the proportion of neurons sensitive to medium frequencies decreased The next step is to give the mice sound stimulation in the dark and monitor brain activity, kanold said This will help researchers understand the role of focus and attention in promoting changes in auditory neurons Such information may be useful to help people adapt to cochlear implants or hearing aids Source of information: a week in the dark rewires brain cell networks and changes hearing in adult mice original source: Krystyna solarana, Ji Liu, Zac Bowen, hey Kyoung Lee, Patrick o kanold Temporary visual innovation causes correlation of spatial temporal population responses in adult mouse audit core Energy, 2019; euro.0269-19.2019 doi: 10.1523/ENEURO.0269-19.2019