Unilateral cochlear ablation in adult ferrets results in upregulation in calretinin immunostaining in the central nucleus of the inferior colliculus

J. C. Alvarado, V. Fuentes-Santamaria, S. R. Franklin, J. K. Brunso-Bechtold, C. K. Henkel

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

18 Scopus citations

Abstract

In the present study, unilateral cochlear ablations were performed in adult ferrets in order to determine whether an upregulation of the calretinin immunostained plexus in the central nucleus of the inferior colliculus occurs and if so, what the time course of this upregulation is. Accordingly, the mean gray level and the calretinin-immunostained area of the axonal plexus in the central nucleus of the inferior colliculus were evaluated at 1, 20 and 90 days after cochlear ablation. In unoperated animals, the calretinin-immunostained plexus was bilaterally symmetric. In ablated animals, both the mean gray level and the immunostained area of the plexus increased in the central nucleus of the inferior colliculus contralateral to the lesion compared with both the ipsilateral side and unoperated animals. This upregulation was present 24 h after the ablation and did not change at the two subsequent time points. In a previous study in young ferrets, the immunostained area of the plexus in the central nucleus of the inferior colliculus contralateral to the lesion increased 200% compared with control ferrets [J Comp Neurol 460 (2003) 585], whereas it increased only 33% in adult ferrets. These findings suggest that 1) calretinin upregulation in the contralateral central nucleus of the inferior colliculus following cochlear ablation occurs by 24 h after cochlear ablation and 2) there is an age-related decline in the magnitude of this upregulation after cochlear ablation.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)957-969
Number of pages13
JournalNeuroscience
Volume136
Issue number3
DOIs
StatePublished - 2005

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
The authors would like to thank Ms Stephanie Evans for her technical assistance. Grant sponsor: Funded in part by National Institute of Health; grant number: DC00813.

Keywords

  • Adulthood
  • Calcium-binding protein
  • Hearing loss
  • Plasticity
  • Quantitative image analysis

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • General Neuroscience

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