In the midbrain, do neighbouring neurons like similar things? Decades of research have shown that neighouring neurons often respond to similar sound frequencies, which can produce maps of frequency in the brain. However, recent research has shown that this organization may break down at a very fine spatial scale in the auditory forebrain. This paper shows a complementary result for the auditory midbrain. Certain aspects of frequency organization (a boundary between different sub-divisions of the inferior colliculus) can be seen at a very fine spatial scale but are invisible at a coarser spatial resolution. This can be seen using a technique called calcium imaging, which makes individual neurons light up when they are active.
Barnstedt O, Keating P, Weissenberger Y, King AJ, Dahmen JC (2015) Functional microarchitecture of the mouse dorsal inferior colliculus revealed through in vivo two-photon calcium imaging. Journal of Neuroscience 35:10927-39.
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UCL Ear Institute 