INGEBI   02650
INSTITUTO DE INVESTIGACIONES EN INGENIERIA GENETICA Y BIOLOGIA MOLECULAR "DR. HECTOR N TORRES"
Unidad Ejecutora - UE
congresos y reuniones científicas
Título:
The brain speaks back to the ear: molecules, physiology and pathology of the efferent olivocochlear-hair cell synapse
Autor/es:
ELGOYHEN AB
Lugar:
Granada
Reunión:
Congreso; Conferencia Leloir XXXVII Congreso, Sociedad Española de Bioquímica y Biología Molecular; 2014
Resumen:
In bringing information about the world to an individual,
sensory systems perform a series of common functions. Each system responds with
some specificity to a stimulus and each one employs some specialized receptor
cells at the periphery to translate specific stimuli into electrical signals
that all neurons can use. That initial electrical event begins the process by
which the central nervous system constructs an orderly representation of for
example, sounds, odors, tastes and objects. Thus, basic sound detection begins
when sound waves strike the eardrum, which transmits that physical stimulus to
the organ of Corti within the cochlea, the sensory epithelium of the mammalian
inner ear. Here the primary receptor cells known as inner hair cells transform
the information into electrical signals that are sent to the central nervous system
by the auditory nerve. However, unlike vision, touch and the chemical senses,
sound processing is modulated by efferent signals that travel in reverse, from
the brain back to the inner ear. One fundamental question in auditory
neuroscience is what role(s) this feedback plays in our ability to hear. The
presentation will overview our work over the years which has contributed to
elucidate the molecules which operate at this efferent olivocochlear-hair cell
synapse, how the synapse operates to fine tune amplification in the inner ear
and the role of the efferent system in protection from acoustic trauma.