Inter-collicular suppression compresses all types of rate-amplitude functions of inferior collicular neurons in mice

The two inferior colliculi (IC) are paired structures in the midbrain that are connected to each other by a bundle of commissural fibers. The fibers play an important role in coordinating sound signal processing between the two inferior colliculi. This study examined inter-collicular suppression on sound signal processing in amplitude domain of mice by measuring the rate-amplitude functions (RAFs) of neurons in one IC during the electrical stimulation of the opposite IC. Three types (monotonic, saturated and non-monotonic) RAFs of collicular neurons were measured before and during inter-collicular suppression. Inter-collicular suppression significantly increased the slope, decreased the dynamic range and narrowed down the responsive amplitude of all RAFs to high amplitude level but did not change the type of most (36/43, 84 %) RAFs. As a result, all types of RAFs were compressed at a greater degree at low than at high sound amplitude during inter-collicular suppression. These data indicate that inter-collicular suppression improve sound processing in the high amplitude domain.