AUDITORY BRAIN-STEM ANOMALIES IN ALBINO CATS .2. NEURONAL ATROPHY IN THE SUPERIOR OLIVE

Since albino cats showed abnormal auditory brainstem evoked responses that appeared to arise from structural defects in or near the superior olivary complex, the neuronal cross-sectional area of brainstem nuclei was compared in albino and normally pigmented adults. The albinos were true tyrosinase negative (cc). Neurons in the medial superior olivary nucleus (MSO) of albinos were, on average, 41% smaller than in pigmented animals; there was no overlap in the neuronal size distributions for the 2 groups of animals. Cell size in the lateral superior olive, medial nucleus of the trapezoid body, ventral nucleus of the lateral lemniscus, anteroventral cochlear nucleus, dorsal cochlear nucleus and facial nucleus was also smaller (by 9-21%) in albinos than in pigmented animals, but none of these differences was statistically reliable. In the abducens nucleus, neurons were 12% larger in albinos than in pigmented animals, demonstrating that neuronal size in the albinos is not uniformly smaller. The auditory system defects in albinos are apparently, related to abnormal pigmentation rather than to other gene effects. Possibly, a subtle pigment-related disruption of inner ear development in albinos results in a central cascade of atrophic changes along the auditory pathway.