Synaptic Properties of Layer 6 Auditory Corticothalamic Inputs in Normal Hearing and Noise-Induced Hearing Loss

Layer 6 corticothalamic neurons (CTs) provide strong feedback input that is crucial to perception and cognition in normal and pathological states; however, the synaptic properties of this input remain largely unknown, especially in pathology. Here, we examined the synaptic properties of CT axon terminals in the medial geniculate body (MGB), the auditory thalamus, in normal hearing male and female mice and in a mouse model of noise-induced hearing loss (NIHL), also in male and female mice. In normal hearing mice, we found that the amplitude of CT-evoked excitatory postsynaptic current (EPSC) to the core-type ventral subdivision of the auditory thalamus (MGv), which mainly conveys rapid sensory information, is larger compared with the amplitude of CT-evoked EPSC to the matrix-type dorsal subdivision of the auditory thalamus (MGd), which likely conveys higher-order internal state information. This is due to higher axonal density and/or axonal recruitment in CT→MGv compared with CT→MGd synapses. After noise trauma, we observed enhanced short-term facilitation in CT→MGd but not CT→MGv synapses. Our findings reveal a previously unknown mechanism of short-term synaptic plasticity after NIHL via which CTs enhance the throughput of matrix-type thalamus, likely to improve perceptual recovery via higher-order contextual modulation.