Topography of acoustic response characteristics in the mid-brain inferior colliculus of Kunming mouse

Topography of acoustic response characteristics of the midbrain inferior colliculus (IC) of the Kunming mouse was studied by using extracellular recording techniques. The characteristic frequency (CF) range represented in the different divisions of the IC differed markedly: 4–15 kHz in the dorsal cortex (DC), 10–70 kHz in the central nucleus (CN), and 4–35 kHz in the external cortex (EC). The CF in the CN increased from dorsal and lateral to ventral and medial, higher CFs represented at its ventromedial part and lower CFs at its dorsal part. The isofrequency contours of CFs were incurvate. Minimum thresholds (MT) of the auditory neurons in DC and the central part of CN were lower (about 10 dB SPL), but considerably higher in the dorsal and ventral region of EC. Results suggest that each of the divisions in the mouse IC may have different auditory functions.