Cellular architecture and topographic organization of the inferior colliculus of the squirrel monkey

The inferior colliculus of the squirrel monkey is made up of a large central nucleus, bordered by the smaller external and pericentral nuclei. The majority of cells in the central nucleus exhibit a pronounced laminar arrangement due to the orientation of their dendrites. In medial sections of the nucleus these laminae lie in a dorsorostral to ventrocaudal direction. More laterally the layers assume a horizontal orientation and at the far lateral edge of the central nucleus come to lie in a ventrorostral to dorsocaudal orientation. A single tonotopic representation of audible frequencies is present in the central nucleus. A regular progression of best frequencies from low to high is encountered as a microelectrode advances from dorsocaudal to ventrorostral in the sagittal plane. Penetrations in more medial regions of the central nucleus encounter neurons whose best frequencies represent a higher range of frequencies than those in the lateral parts. The orientation of the isofrequency laminae determined physiologically appears congruent with the orientation of the dendritic laminae. The relative volume of the central nucleus devoted to each octave from 250 Hz to 32 kHz was determined. Frequencies up to eight kHz command successively larger amounts of collicular tissue. The octave band from 8 to 16 kHz is represented by the greatest amount of collicular tissue. Disproportionate representation of frequency may be the consequence of innervation density along the basilar membrane.