Transient appearance of calbindin-D28k-positive neurons in the superior olivary complex of developing rats

Calbindin-D28k (CaBP) is a calcium-binding protein that is prominent in various parts of the mammalian auditory system. In order to shed some light on the possible role of CaBP during ontogeny, when calcium ions play key roles in several processes, the location of CaBP was examined immunocytochemically in the auditory system of the developing rat. This study focuses on the principal nuclei of the superior olivary complex, which show distinct CaBP labeling in the adult. Consistent with previous reports in the rat and other mammals, CaBP immunoreactivity in adults was intense in somata of the medial nucleus of the trapezoid body (MNTB) and in the neuropil (presumably in axons) of the lateral superior olive (LSO), the superior paraolivary nucleus (SPN), and the medial superior olive (MSO). In fetal and neonatal animals, however, the labeling pattern was strikingly different. Around birth, MNTB neurons are immunonegative for CaBP, whereas somata and processes in the LSO, probably neuronal, are heavily labeled at that age. This labeling pattern persists throughout the first week of postnatal life and begins to change at P8, when MNTB neurons become immunopositive for CaBP. During the next 10 days labeling intensity in MNTB neurons increases considerably, and the increase is paralleled by an increase in labeling intensity of the neuropil in the LSO, SPN, and MSO, indicating that the labeled processes in these nuclei may be axons originating from MNTB neurons. Immunoreactivity in LSO cells begins to decline around P8, decays rapidly between P10 and P18, and reaches its adult level around P28, when the CaBP labeling pattern in the whole superior olivary complex is indistinguishable from that in the adult. The present results show that the development of CaBP immunoreactivity in the rat superior olivary complex is characterized by two reciprocally related processes: as immunoreactivity within MNTB somata and fibers in the SPN, and LSO, and the MSO increases between P8 and about P21, the immunoreactivity in LSO neurons declines. CaBP immunoreactivity in LSO neurons is only transiently present, suggesting a critical period in development during which the control of Ca2+ homeostasis in LSO neurons may be of particular importance.