STATO-ACOUSTIC PROPERTIES OF UTRICULAR AFFERENTS

The authors classified the utricular afferents on the basis of their spontaneous activity and responses to tilts and vibrations. Type I afferents fire spontaneously in a regular pattern; their responses to tilts consist of a phasic-tonic change in firing rate. They may respond to vibrations by increasing or decreasing their rate and show no adaptation. The spontaneous activity and the responses to tilts of type II are similar to those observed in type I afferents. The differences become apparent when the preparation is subjected to a vibrational stimulus, since type II neurons increase their firing rate regardless of the stimulus frequency and show adaptation. Type III neurons have no spontaneous activity. They respond to tilts by firing during the transition from one position to the other. They respond to a vibrational stimulus with maintained firing and show no adaptation. The authors studied the dynamic responses of each type of neuron. They used sensitivity curves for the study of type III afferents and proposed a statistical method to define gain curves for the study of the other types. The gain curves generated by type I neurons reach their maximum at frequencies of stimulation close to the spontaneous rate of firing. In the gain curves of type II afferents the maximum corresponds to frequencies higher than their spontaneous activity. Sensitivity curves and gain curves give similar results for type III fibers. The sensitivity curves of these afferents were classified into four subtypes. The authors studied the responses of the three types of afferents to bursts of sinusoidal vibrations. They concluded that the properties of types I and II fibers are fit to carry information about movements and position of the head, but also transmit acoustical information. Type III fibers are more adapted to provide information about acoustical stimuli, but can also convey information about head movements.