Auditory nerve neurophonic recorded from the round window of the Mongolian gerbil

In the Mongolian gerbil, round window (RW) recordings of averaged responses to phase-locked acoustic stimuli which are not alternated in polarity can include both the cochlear mirophonic (CM) and auditory nerve neurophonic (ANN). The ANN can dominate the recordings when the RW electrode is referenced to some portion of the body that allows the two electrodes to straddle the auditory nerve. Concentric bipolar RW electrodes are biased in favor of the CM. When there is a substantial ANN component in the RW response, as the sinusoidal stimulus intensity increases there is a non-monotonic increase of amplitude and a pronounced change of phase of the response. When the phase-locked stimuli are alternated in polarity in order to cancel the CM, a residual response is often observed. This residual response has twice the frequency of the stimulus and is decreased in amplitude by forward masking. It also shows a pattern of amplitude decrement following the stimulus onset, resembling adaptation of the firing rate of cochlear nerve axons. Tetrodotoxin (TTX) eliminates the non-monotonic RW amplitude input-output (I/O) function, reduces the phase changes of the response as the stimulus intensity is increased, eliminates the residual non-canceled response to alternated stimuli, and the time-limited amplitude decrements which resemble adaptation. Following application of TTX, the RW response of the gerbil to stimuli with non-alternated polarity much more closely resembles the CM responses of other animals. It is concluded that the gerbil's residual response following cancellation of the CM is the ANN, and that the RW of the gerbil is a convenient site for recording measures of phase-locked cochlear axonal activity.