Disentangling sub-millisecond processes within an auditory transduction chain
Tim Gollisch & Andreas V. M. Herz
PLoS Biology (2005) - online-publication
Abstract
Every sensation begins with the conversion of a sensory stimulus
into the response of a receptor neuron. Typically, this involves a
sequence of multiple biophysical processes that cannot all be
monitored directly. In this work, we present an approach that is
based on analyzing different stimuli that cause the same final
output, here defined as the probability of the receptor neuron to
fire a single action potential. Comparing such iso-response
stimuli within the framework of nonlinear cascade models allows us
to extract the characteristics of individual signal-processing
steps with a temporal resolution much finer than the
trial-to-trial variability of the measured output spike
times. Applied to insect auditory receptor cells, the technique
reveals the sub-millisecond dynamics of the eardrum vibration and
of the electrical potential and yields a quantitative four-step
cascade model. The model accounts for the tuning properties of
this class of neurons and explains their high temporal resolution
under natural stimulation. Owing to its simplicity and generality,
the presented method is readily applicable to other nonlinear
cascades and a large variety of signal-processing systems.
Last modified: Fri Nov 28 11:24:24 CET 2008