PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - R Boyle
AU  - SM Highstein
TI  - Resting discharge and response dynamics of horizontal semicircular canal afferents of the toadfish, Opsanus tau
AID  - 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.10-05-01557.1990
DP  - 1990 May 01
TA  - The Journal of Neuroscience
PG  - 1557--1569
VI  - 10
IP  - 5
4099  - http://www.jneurosci.org/content/10/5/1557.short
4100  - http://www.jneurosci.org/content/10/5/1557.full
SO  - J. Neurosci.1990 May 01; 10
AB  - The response dynamics of 66 primary afferents of the horizontal semicircular canal were studied in the toadfish using sinusoidal, rotational stimuli from 0.001–10 Hz at amplitudes of 5–100 degrees/sec. Twelve afferents were also tested to constant velocity trapezoids. Responses to sinusoids were used to classify afferents into 3 broad groups: (1) low-gain afferents that maintain a relatively linear response re: stimulus velocity across most of the frequency and amplitude spectra tested; (2) high-gain afferents that have a velocity sensitivity but also show a high-frequency gain enhancement and phase advance; and (3) so-called acceleration afferents that have a response more in phase with stimulus acceleration than velocity across the tested bandwidth. The afferent's background discharge was examined in relation to its rotational response. Low-gain afferents have regular spacing of interspike intervals. High-gain and acceleration afferents have a widely variable discharge regularity that is apparently unrelated to their rotational responses. Input/output transfer models were fit to the response data to describe the low- and high-pass filtering properties of the 3 afferent groups.