Restoration of Auditory Nerve Synapses in Cats by Cochlear Implants
- 2 December 2005
- journal article
- other
- Published by American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) in Science
- Vol. 310 (5753) , 1490-1492
- https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1119419
Abstract
Congenital deafness results in abnormal synaptic structure in endings of the auditory nerve. If these abnormalities persist after restoration of auditory nerve activity by a cochlear implant, the processing of time-varying signals such as speech would likely be impaired. We stimulated congenitally deaf cats for 3 months with a six-channel cochlear implant. The device used human speech-processing programs, and cats responded to environmental sounds. Auditory nerve fibers exhibited a recovery of normal synaptic structure in these cats. This rescue of synapses is attributed to a return of spike activity in the auditory nerve and may help explain cochlear implant benefits in childhood deafness.Keywords
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