Dorsal cochlear nucleus

From Psychology Wiki

Community portal · Tasks to do · News · Help

Clinical · Educational · Ind&Org · Other fields · Professional · Transpersonal · World

Assessment | Biopsychology | Comparative | Cognitive | Developmental | Language
Personality | Philosophy | Research Methods | Social | Statistics

Biological: Behavioural genetics · Evolutionary psychology · Neuroanatomy · Neurochemistry · Neuroendocrinology · Psychoneuroimmunology · Physiological Psychology · Psychopharmacology

---

Brain: Dorsal cochlear nucleus
Dorsal cochlear nucleus is #4, at upper left
[[Image:|250px|center|]]
Latin	nucleus cochlearis posterior
Gray's	subject #
Part of
Components
Artery
Vein
BrainInfo/UW	hier-718
MeSH	[1]

The dorsal cochlear nucleus (DCN, also known as the "tuberculum acousticum") differs from the ventral portion of the CN as it not only projects to the Inferior Colliculus (IC) but also receives efferent innervation from auditory cortex, superior olivary complex and inferior colliculus. Thus, the DCN is thought to be involved with more complex auditory processing, rather than merely transferring information. The architecture and wiring of the DCN is related to that of the cerebellum, a concept that currently is important in theories of DCN function.

The fusiform (also called pyramidal) cells that dominate the DCN can be excited or inhibited by sound, and are located solely within the DCN. The fusiform cells are the target of two different excitatory systems. The first system arises from the auditory nerve, and carries acoustic information. The second set of inputs is relayed through a set of small cells called "granule" cells in the cochlear nucleus. The granule cells in turn are the target of a number of different inputs, including both those involved in auditory processing and, at least in lower mammals, somatosensory inputs associated with the head, the ear, and the jaw.

The cells in the DCN have very complex frequency intensity tuning curves. For any given cell, the firing rate may be very rapid in response to a low intensity sound at one frequency and then fall below the spontaneous rate with only a small increment in stimulus frequency or intensity. The firing rate may then increase with another increment in intensity or frequency. The fusiform cells are excited by wide band noise.

While the VCN bushy cells aid in the location of a sound stimulus on the horizontal axis, fusiform cells may participate in localization of the sound stimulus on the vertical axis. With the combined power of these two types of cells, an ordinary person can locate where a firework explodes without the use of his eyes.

v·d·e Brain: rhombencephalon (hindbrain)
Metencephalon/ pons	{| class="navbox collapsible nowraplinks" style="margin:auto; background:white;background:white;"
[[[:Template:Fullurl:Template:]] v]·[[[:Template:Fullurl:Template talk:]] d]·[[[:Template:Fullurl:Template:]] e]
Dorsal/ (tegmentum)	surface: Locus ceruleus Trigeminal lemniscus (Dorsal trigeminal tract, Ventral trigeminal tract) cranial nuclei: GSA: Principal V/Spinal V - VIII-c (Dorsal, Anterior)/VIII-v (Lateral, Superior, Medial, Inferior) - SVE: Motor V - VII - GSE: VI - GVE: VII: Superior salivary nucleus MLF, III, IV and VI (vestibulo-oculomotor fibers, medial vestibulospinal tract) sensory/ascending: Trapezoid body/VIII - Superior olivary nucleus Inferior cerebellar peduncle (Vestibulocerebellar tract) motor/descending: Apneustic center • Pneumotaxic center (Medial parabrachial nucleus) - Lateral parabrachial nucleus
Ventral/ (base)	Middle cerebellar peduncles (Pontocerebellar fibers) - Pontine nuclei motor/descending: Corticospinal tract - Corticobulbar tract - Corticopontine fibers
Raphe/reticular	Reticular formation (Caudal, Oral, Tegmental, Paramedian) • Raphe nuclei (Median)

|- style="white-space:nowrap;background:#ddddff;text-align:right;background-color: LightYellow" ! Myelencephalon/
medulla | colspan="1" style="text-align:left;width:100%;font-size:95%;background:#f7f7f7;" | {| class="navbox collapsible nowraplinks" style="margin:auto; background:white;background:white;" |- style="text-align:center;width:100%;"

!colspan="2" |

|- |- style="white-space:nowrap;background:#ddddff;text-align:right;padding-left:0em;padding-right:0em;background-color: LightYellow"

!

| colspan="1" style="text-align:left;width:100%;font-size:95%;" | surface: Posterior median sulcus - Postero-lateral sulcus - Area postrema

cranial nuclei: GVA: VII,IX,X: Solitary/tract • SVA: Gustatory nucleus • GSE: XII  • GVE: IX,X,XI: Ambiguus • SVE: X: Dorsal • IX: Inferior salivatory nucleus - MLF, III, IV and VI

sensory/ascending: Gracile nucleus • Cuneate nucleus (Accessory cuneate nucleus) • Sensory decussation  • Medial lemniscus

motor/descending: Dorsal respiratory group
|- style="white-space:nowrap;background:#ddddff;text-align:right;padding-left:0em;padding-right:0em;background-color: LightYellow"

!

| colspan="1" style="text-align:left;width:100%;font-size:95%;background:#f7f7f7;" | motor/descending: Ventral respiratory group - Pyramid (Motor decussation) - Inferior olivary nucleus (Olivocerebellar tract, Rubro-olivary tract)
surface: Anterior median fissure - Antero-lateral sulcus - Arcuate nucleus of medulla - Olivary body
|- style="white-space:nowrap;background:#ddddff;text-align:right;padding-left:0em;padding-right:0em;background-color: LightYellow"

!

| colspan="1" style="text-align:left;width:100%;font-size:95%;" | Reticular formation (Gigantocellular, Parvocellular, Ventral, Lateral, Paramedian) • Raphe nuclei (Obscurus, Magnus, Pallidus) |} |}

This page uses content from the English-language version of Wikipedia. The original article was at Dorsal cochlear nucleus. The list of authors can be seen in the page history. As with Psychology Wiki, the text of Wikipedia is available under the GNU Free Documentation License.