Infrared neural stimulation fails to evoke neural activity in the deaf guinea pig cochlea.
Loading...
Date
2015-03
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Elsevier
Abstract
At present there is some debate as to the processes by which infrared neural
stimulation (INS) activates neurons in the cochlea, as the lasers used for
INS can potentially generate a range of secondary stimuli e.g. an acoustic
stimulus is produced when the light is absorbed by water. To clarify whether
INS in the cochlea requires functioning hair cells and to explore the potential
relevance to cochlear implants, experiments using INS were performed in the
cochleae of both normal hearing and profoundly deaf guinea pigs. A response
to laser stimulation was readily evoked in normal hearing cochlea. However,
no response was evoked in any profoundly deaf cochleae, for either acute or
chronic deafening, contrary to previous work where a response was observed
after acute deafening with ototoxic drugs. A neural response to electrical
stimulation was readily evoked in all cochleae after deafening. The absence
of a response from optical stimuli in profoundly deaf cochleae suggests that the response from INS in the cochlea is hair cell mediated.
Description
Keywords
infrared neural stimulation, INS, cochlear implant, optical stimulation, optoacoustic
Citation
Thompson, A. C., Fallon, J. B., Wise, A. K., Wade, S. A., Shepherd, R. K., & Stoddart, P. R. (2015). Infrared neural stimulation fails to evoke neural activity in the deaf guinea pig cochlea. Hearing Research, 324, 46-53.