Age-related tonotopic map plasticity in the central auditory pathways

Inner hair cell lesions to the basal turn of the cochlea effectively result in a partial deafferentation of the auditory system. At the level of the midbrain (central nucleus of inferior colliculus) cochleotopic maps, based on single unit response characteristic frequency, are changed after such deafferentation. when a cochlear lesion is induced in a neonatal animal (chinchilla), the reorganization of the frequency map is more extensive than that resulting from similar deafferentation in the adult subject. Neonatal cochlear lesions result in an over-representation of sound frequencies corresponding to the border of the cochlear lesion, while similar lesions in the adult do not. The results suggest that significant plasticity exists in the auditory midbrain during early post natal development (even in a precocious species, such as chinchilla); however, this plasticity is largely lost in the mature animal. A conceptual model for the frequency map re-wiring is presented.