Increased Synchrony and Bursting of Dorsal Cochlear Nucleus Fusiform Cells Correlate with Tinnitus.

Summary

Recording spontaneous activity from DCN fusiform cells in normal-hearing, tinnitus, and non-tinnitus guinea pigs, increased cross-unit synchrony, bursting, and spontaneous firing rate correlated with behavioral evidence of tinnitus. Because these hallmarks appear in the DCN, the putative induction site, a neural code for phantom sound likely emerges in this brainstem station.

Key findings

• Fusiform-cell synchrony and bursting correlate with behavioral tinnitus, not just hearing loss.
• Increased synchrony/bursting tracks elevated spontaneous firing rate.
• Locates the emergence of a tinnitus 'neural code' in the DCN (brainstem).