Acoustically Enriched Environment during the Critical Period of Postnatal Development Positively Modulates Gap Detection and Frequency Discrimination Abilities in Adult Rats
Throughout life, sensory systems adapt to the sensory environment to provide optimal responses to relevant tasks. In the case of a developing system, sensory inputs induce changes that are permanent and detectable up to adulthood. Previously, we have shown that rearing rat pups in a complex acoustic...
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| Format: | Article |
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Wiley
2021-01-01
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| Series: | Neural Plasticity |
| Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2021/6611922 |
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| author | Kateryna Pysanenko Natalia Rybalko Zbyněk Bureš Daniel Šuta Jiří Lindovský Josef Syka |
| author_facet | Kateryna Pysanenko Natalia Rybalko Zbyněk Bureš Daniel Šuta Jiří Lindovský Josef Syka |
| author_sort | Kateryna Pysanenko |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Throughout life, sensory systems adapt to the sensory environment to provide optimal responses to relevant tasks. In the case of a developing system, sensory inputs induce changes that are permanent and detectable up to adulthood. Previously, we have shown that rearing rat pups in a complex acoustic environment (spectrally and temporally modulated sound) from postnatal day 14 (P14) to P28 permanently improves the response characteristics of neurons in the inferior colliculus and auditory cortex, influencing tonotopical arrangement, response thresholds and strength, and frequency selectivity, along with stochasticity and the reproducibility of neuronal spiking patterns. In this study, we used a set of behavioral tests based on a recording of the acoustic startle response (ASR) and its prepulse inhibition (PPI), with the aim to extend the evidence of the persistent beneficial effects of the developmental acoustical enrichment. The enriched animals were generally not more sensitive to startling sounds, and also, their PPI of ASR, induced by noise or pure tone pulses, was comparable to the controls. They did, however, exhibit a more pronounced PPI when the prepulse stimulus was represented either by a change in the frequency of a background tone or by a silent gap in background noise. The differences in the PPI of ASR between the enriched and control animals were significant at lower (55 dB SPL), but not at higher (65-75 dB SPL), intensities of background sound. Thus, rearing pups in the acoustically enriched environment led to an improvement of the frequency resolution and gap detection ability under more difficult testing conditions, i.e., with a worsened stimulus clarity. We confirmed, using behavioral tests, that an acoustically enriched environment during the critical period of development influences the frequency and temporal processing in the auditory system, and these changes persist until adulthood. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-322315a5230c4bc689d2eae7840468da |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 2090-5904 1687-5443 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2021-01-01 |
| publisher | Wiley |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Neural Plasticity |
| spelling | doaj-art-322315a5230c4bc689d2eae7840468da2025-08-20T03:55:06ZengWileyNeural Plasticity2090-59041687-54432021-01-01202110.1155/2021/66119226611922Acoustically Enriched Environment during the Critical Period of Postnatal Development Positively Modulates Gap Detection and Frequency Discrimination Abilities in Adult RatsKateryna Pysanenko0Natalia Rybalko1Zbyněk Bureš2Daniel Šuta3Jiří Lindovský4Josef Syka5Department of Auditory Neuroscience, Institute of Experimental Medicine, Czech Academy of Sciences, Prague, Czech RepublicDepartment of Auditory Neuroscience, Institute of Experimental Medicine, Czech Academy of Sciences, Prague, Czech RepublicDepartment of Auditory Neuroscience, Institute of Experimental Medicine, Czech Academy of Sciences, Prague, Czech RepublicDepartment of Auditory Neuroscience, Institute of Experimental Medicine, Czech Academy of Sciences, Prague, Czech RepublicDepartment of Auditory Neuroscience, Institute of Experimental Medicine, Czech Academy of Sciences, Prague, Czech RepublicDepartment of Auditory Neuroscience, Institute of Experimental Medicine, Czech Academy of Sciences, Prague, Czech RepublicThroughout life, sensory systems adapt to the sensory environment to provide optimal responses to relevant tasks. In the case of a developing system, sensory inputs induce changes that are permanent and detectable up to adulthood. Previously, we have shown that rearing rat pups in a complex acoustic environment (spectrally and temporally modulated sound) from postnatal day 14 (P14) to P28 permanently improves the response characteristics of neurons in the inferior colliculus and auditory cortex, influencing tonotopical arrangement, response thresholds and strength, and frequency selectivity, along with stochasticity and the reproducibility of neuronal spiking patterns. In this study, we used a set of behavioral tests based on a recording of the acoustic startle response (ASR) and its prepulse inhibition (PPI), with the aim to extend the evidence of the persistent beneficial effects of the developmental acoustical enrichment. The enriched animals were generally not more sensitive to startling sounds, and also, their PPI of ASR, induced by noise or pure tone pulses, was comparable to the controls. They did, however, exhibit a more pronounced PPI when the prepulse stimulus was represented either by a change in the frequency of a background tone or by a silent gap in background noise. The differences in the PPI of ASR between the enriched and control animals were significant at lower (55 dB SPL), but not at higher (65-75 dB SPL), intensities of background sound. Thus, rearing pups in the acoustically enriched environment led to an improvement of the frequency resolution and gap detection ability under more difficult testing conditions, i.e., with a worsened stimulus clarity. We confirmed, using behavioral tests, that an acoustically enriched environment during the critical period of development influences the frequency and temporal processing in the auditory system, and these changes persist until adulthood.http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2021/6611922 |
| spellingShingle | Kateryna Pysanenko Natalia Rybalko Zbyněk Bureš Daniel Šuta Jiří Lindovský Josef Syka Acoustically Enriched Environment during the Critical Period of Postnatal Development Positively Modulates Gap Detection and Frequency Discrimination Abilities in Adult Rats Neural Plasticity |
| title | Acoustically Enriched Environment during the Critical Period of Postnatal Development Positively Modulates Gap Detection and Frequency Discrimination Abilities in Adult Rats |
| title_full | Acoustically Enriched Environment during the Critical Period of Postnatal Development Positively Modulates Gap Detection and Frequency Discrimination Abilities in Adult Rats |
| title_fullStr | Acoustically Enriched Environment during the Critical Period of Postnatal Development Positively Modulates Gap Detection and Frequency Discrimination Abilities in Adult Rats |
| title_full_unstemmed | Acoustically Enriched Environment during the Critical Period of Postnatal Development Positively Modulates Gap Detection and Frequency Discrimination Abilities in Adult Rats |
| title_short | Acoustically Enriched Environment during the Critical Period of Postnatal Development Positively Modulates Gap Detection and Frequency Discrimination Abilities in Adult Rats |
| title_sort | acoustically enriched environment during the critical period of postnatal development positively modulates gap detection and frequency discrimination abilities in adult rats |
| url | http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2021/6611922 |
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