Convergence of excitatory and inhibitory hair cell transmitters shapes vestibular afferent responses

Gay R. Holstein, Richard D. Rabbitt, Giorgio P. Martinelli, Victor L. Friedrich, Richard D. Boyle, Stephen M. Highstein

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

48 Scopus citations

Abstract

The vestibular semicircular canals respond to angular acceleration that is integrated to angular velocity by the biofluid mechanics of the canals and is the primary origin of afferent responses encoding velocity. Surprisingly, some afferents actually report angular acceleration. Our data indicate that hair-cell/afferent synapses introduce a mathematical derivative in these afferents that partially cancels the biomechanical integration and results in discharge rates encoding angular acceleration. We examined the role of convergent synaptic inputs from hair cells to this mathematical differentiation. A significant reduction in the order of the differentiation was observed for low-frequency stimuli after γ-aminobutyric acid type B receptor antagonist administration. Results demonstrate that γ-aminobutyric acid participates in shaping the temporal dynamics of afferent responses.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)15766-15771
Number of pages6
JournalProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
Volume101
Issue number44
DOIs
StatePublished - 2 Nov 2004

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