Early signs of tinnitus in a simulation of the mammalian primary auditory cortex

Abstract

[Poster presentation] The majority of tinnitus cases are related to cochlear dysfunction, leading to altered peripheral input to the central auditory system. These alterations are believed to increase the basic level of neural activity during off-conditions of sound and to diminish the increase in neural activity when sound is presented. As a compensatory means the affected region of primary auditory cortex tries to maximize the difference between basic level activity and sound-induced activity by adapting inhibitory and excitatory influences towards less GABAergic inhibition. This adaptation in turn triggers unmasking of dormant synapses and creation of new connections through axonal sprouting and finally results in a reorganization of tonotopic receptive fields and the manifestation of tinnitus