Microneurographic assessment of C-fibre function in aged healthy subjects.

Physiological changes in the nervous system occur with ageing. Both a decline of function and a decrease in the number of C-fibres in the skin have been reported for healthy aged subjects. With the use of microneurographic recordings from single C-fibres in humans we have compared the sensory and axonal properties of these neurones in young and aged healthy subjects. A total of 146 C-fibres were recorded from the common peroneal nerve in young subjects (mean age 24.7 years) and 230 C-fibres were recorded in aged subjects (mean age 56.2 years). In aged subjects, changes were found in the composition of the C-fibre population and in sensory and axonal properties. The relative incidence of afferent to efferent C-fibres was relatively constant independent of the age of subjects. The ratio of mechano-responsive to mechano-insensitive nociceptors was approximately 8 : 2 in the young controls while in aged subjects it was 7 : 3. In aged subjects 13% of the fibres showed atypical discharge characteristics, while this was not observed in young subjects. Spontaneous activity, sensitization and loss of sensory function were found regularly. Changes in functions of the conductile membrane were also observed in fibres from aged subjects. The degree of activity-dependent conduction velocity slowing in response to high frequency stimulation (2 Hz) was more pronounced, while the normalization of conduction velocity subsequent to high frequency stimulation was protracted. We found that both sensitization and desensitization or degeneration of afferent C-fibres occur with age, but are still rare compared to patients with neuropathy. The changes in the axonal properties of C-fibres in aged subjects are compatible with hypoexcitability of the fibres. These findings are important for the understanding and differential diagnoses regarding pathological processes and normal ageing.

Assessment of the medial olivocochlear efferent system in children. pure tone 1.0 kHz and 2.0 kHz suppressive effects on transient evoked otoacoustic emission.

The role of medial efferent system in regulating outer hair cell function has been studied by many investigators. Usually narrow band noise or white noise as contralateral stimulation (CS) suppressors have been used and changes in OAE amplitudes estimated. Thirty children aged 6-15 years (mean 12.5 +/- 4.7), without any changes in tonal and impedance audiometry and with negative history regarding otiatric diseases were examined. Transient evoked otoacoustic emissions (TEOAE) were recorded using ILO 92 Otodynamics Analyser. CS was performed using 1.0 kHz and 2.0 kHz continuous pure tones of 30 dB SL or 50 dB SL. Effects of CS on TEOAE evoked by click of 80, 70 and 60 dB SPL were investigated. TEOAE analysis included assessment of TEOAE amplitude of half octave frequency bandwidth (HOFBW-1.0; HOFBW-1.5; HOFBW-2.0; HOFBW-3.0 and HOFBW-4.0 kHz) and 0.8 kHz frequency bandwidth (0.8-FBW) amplitudes centred at 1.0; 2.0; 3.0; 4.0 and 5.0 kHz. TEOAE amplitude recorded for stimuli 80, 70 and 60 dB SPL without CS decreased: mean values respectively 6.1 +/- 4.2; 5.4 +/- 4.5 and 3.3 dB SPL +/- 4.3. CS effect on TEOAE was observed for all CS options, however, larger suppressive effect was recorded on TEOAE elicited by 70 dB SPL stimulus using 1 kHz/50 dB SL tone as a suppressor and on TEOAE elicited by 60 dB SPL stimulus using 2 kHz/50 dB SL tone as a suppressor. HOFBW and 0.8-FBW analyses showed the association between the frequency/intensity of the suppressors and decreasing of amplitudes of adequate frequency bands. It is concluded that the described method of investigating of the medial olivocochlear efferent system seems to be sensitive and confirms frequency-dependent suppressive effect on OAE.

[The application of otoacoustic emissions measurement in the assessment of the function of cochlear efferent fibers: the study of normal hearing subjects]. / Zastosowanie pomiarów emisji otoakustycznej do oceny funkcji ukladu eferentnego slimaka--badania osób z prawidlowym sluchem.

It has been shown by L. Collet in 1990 that the contralateral noise stimulation causes the decrease in the amplitude of otoacoustic emissions in the ipsilateral (tested) ear. This effect is linked to the activation of crossed efferent fibres in the cochlea. This non-invasive method is becoming a useful tool in assessing the function of efferent system in human. In this study the effect of contralateral noise stimulation was assessed in 10 young subjects with normal hearing. The contralateral stimulation caused the decrease in the amplitude of both transient evoked otoacoustic emission (TEOAE) and distortion-product otoacoustic emission (DPOAE) in the majority of tested ears. The statistically significant effect was observed already at the intensity of noise of 40 dB (A). At the lower level of noise (30 dB-A) the small increase in the amplitude of otoacoustic emissions in some ears was observed. The suppressive effect of contralateral stimulation depended clearly on the intensity of noise; the higher intensity of noise, the greater suppressive effect was seen. However, the decrease in the otoacoustic emissions was very small (usually in the range from 1 to 2 dB), which may limit practical application of this method in the assessment of the function of efferent system.

Peripheral auditory lateralization assessment using TEOAEs.

Previous studies indicate a left-right asymmetry in the function of peripheral auditory system. Contralateral acoustic suppression of TEOAEs (transient evoked otoacoustic emissions) enables assessment of medial olivocochlear efferent system functioning, and has demonstrated that this system is more effective in the right than in the left ear. Moreover, TEOAE amplitudes are lower in the left than in the right ear. The aim of the present experiment was to verify firstly the absence of a relationship between medial efferent system asymmetry and TEOAE amplitude asymmetry, and secondly to study TEOAE input/output function slopes. There was no link between the asymmetries in TEOAE amplitude and in the medial efferent system functioning. Further, as previously shown, the medial olivocochlear system increased the TEOAE input/output function slopes. These TEOAE input/output function slopes seem to be consistent factors in peripheral asymmetry since the slope is lower in the right than in the left ear. Moreover, the lower the TEOAE amplitudes, the greater the TEOAE slopes. The slope asymmetry of the two ears could correspond to earlier saturation or a lower augmentation ability of the TEOAE response in the right ear, where the TEOAE amplitude is higher. This asymmetry in growth slopes reinforces the notion of peripheral auditory lateralization.

Hippocampal neurons transplanted into ischemically lesioned hippocampus: anatomical assessment of survival, maturation and integration.

Cerebral ischemia can be caused by many diverse conditions such as cardiac arrest and severe hypotension and is often the cause of secondary brain damage following head injury or infantile birth trauma. The inadequate cerebral blood flow can result in permanent loss of essential brain circuitries and neurological deficits. The CA1 region of the hippocampal formation is the region of the brain that is most often lesioned following transient forebrain ischemia and is associated with impairments of learning and memory. Furthermore, the loss of such a large target area can lead to detrimental post-trauma synaptic reorganization. Since methods are not currently available for the prevention of neuronal loss following cerebral ischemia, a number of anatomical methodologies were utilized to investigate whether transplanted neurons had the potential to afford some measure of repair. The hippocampal CA1 region of the rat brain was lesioned by transient forebrain ischemia and subsequently repopulated with suspensions of fetal hippocampal tissue. The ability of the transplanted neurons to remain viable when placed into a degenerating environment was confirmed by the histological demonstration of 3H-thymidine labelled neurons in the lesioned region. Histological and immunohistochemical techniques showed that the transplanted neurons developed cytological features that were indistinguishable from their normal CA1 counterparts, often showed a remarkable degree of organization, and expressed some of the same neuron specific proteins; specifically calbindin-D28K and parvalbumin. Acetylcholinesterase histochemistry and retrograde axonal transport of Fluorogold demonstrated that some afferent and efferent fibre projections to and from the septal nucleus could be reinstated. The data have shown that the transplanted neurons can demonstrate many of the anatomical properties that are characteristic of the adult cells they have replaced and therefore have great potential for the reconstruction of severe focal lesions due to ischemia.

Electrophysiological, biochemical and behavioral assessment of dopamine autoreceptor activation by a series of dopamine agonists.

The rank order of potency to activate central dopamine autoreceptors of seven compounds known to possess central nervous system dopamine agonist activity were assessed with the following techniques: (1) inhibition of dopaminergic neuronal firing in anesthetized rats, (2) inhibition of dopamine synthesis in rats pretreated with gamma-butyrolactone, and (3) inhibition of mouse locomotor activity. The compounds were also examined for their ability to induce stereotypic behaviors in rats as an index of postsynaptic dopamine receptor activation. The compounds under investigation were apomorphine, N-n-propyl-norapomorphine, lergotrile, bromocriptine, RU 24926 and 6-ethyl-9-oxaergoline (EOE). There was a high degree of correlation between the rank order of potency of the compounds in all three of the presumptive autoreceptor tests and with minor variations the following rank order of potency was found: N-n-propylnorapomorphine greater than or equal to EOE greater than apomorphine greater than lergotrile greater than or equal to RU 24926 greater than bromocriptine. However, in the induction of stereotypies, the rank order of potency was considerably different: N-n-propylnorapomorphine greater than apomorphine greater than EOE greater than RU 24926 greater than lergotrile greater than bromocriptine. There was a poor and statistically significant degree of correlation between the rank order of potency of the test compounds to induce stereotyped behaviors and any of the other three test procedures. Altogether, these data confirm and extend the suspected dopaminergic agonist properties of the compounds under investigation and additionally lend credence to the assumption that the three putative autoreceptor assays employed do in fact reflect dopaminergic autoreceptor activation.