Research Interests: The Hearing and Communication Lab studies brain mechanisms used by bats and other mammals to analyze complex sounds. Bats use complex sounds in two highly developed acoustic behaviors: echolocation (biological sonar) and social communication. Our research studies neuronal mechanisms acting at brainstem and midbrain levels of the auditory pathway to create selective responses to complex vocal signals. We use a wide variety of neurophysiological, pharmacological, and anatomical approaches in our work. We have also begun a major effort to examine how emotional centers of the brain modulate auditory processing of complex sounds. In particulular, we are studying how projections of the amygdala to the inferior colliculus modulate the complex processing that occurs. This pathway may alter the sensitivity of auditory midbrain neurons to different types of vocalizations.

We thank the National Institute for Deafness and other Communication Disorders and the Ohio Board of Regents for their support of this work.

Laboratory Personnel:

Projects:

Auditory Information Processing in the Midbrain
Principal Investigator: Jeff Wenstrup
Funding source: National Institute on Deafness and other Communication Disorders

Analyses of Communication Sounds in Auditory Midbrain
Principal Investigator: Christine Portfors
Funding source: National Institute on Deafness and other Communication Disorders

Recent Laboratory Publications:

Portfors, C.V. and Wenstrup, J.J. (2002) Excitatory and facilitatory frequency response areas in the inferior colliculus of the mustached bat. Hearing Research 168:131-138.

Marsh, R.A., Fuzessery, Z.M., Grose, C.D., and Wenstrup, J.J. (2002). Projection to the inferior colliculus from the basal nucleus of the amygdala. Journal of Neuroscience 22:10449-10460.

Fuzessery, Z.M., Wenstrup, J.J., Hall., J.C., and Leroy, S. (2003) The role of inhibition in shaping response latency in the inferior colliculus. Journal of the Association for Research in Otolaryngology 4:60-73.

Portfors, C.V. and Wenstrup, J.J. (2003) Neural processing of target distance: transformation of combination-sensitive responses. In: Echolocation in Bats and Dolphins, J. Thomas, C. Moss, and M. Vater, eds. University of Chicago Press, Chicago, pp. 141-146.

Wenstrup, J.J., Leroy, S.A, Portfors, C., and Grose, C.D. (2003) Neural mechanisms underlying the analysis of target distance. In: Echolocation in Bats and Dolphins, J. Thomas, C. Moss, and M. Vater, eds. University of Chicago Press, Chicago, pp. 146-153.

Nataraj, K. and Wenstrup J.J. (2005) Roles of inhibition in creating complex auditory responses in the inferior colliculus: facilitated combination-sensitive neurons. Journal of Neurophysiology 93:3294-3312.

Wenstrup, J.J.. (2005) The Tectothalamic System. In: The Inferior Colliculus, J. A. Winer and C.E. Schreiner, eds. Springer Verlag, New York , pp. 200-230.

Sherwood, C.C., Raghantil, M.A., and Wenstrup, J.J. (2005) Is humanlike lateralization of cytoarchitecture present in another species with complex social vocalization? A stereologic analysis of mustached bat auditory and visual cortex. Brain Research 1045: 164-174.

Collaborations:

Alexander Galazyuk, Ph.D., Assistant Professor
Department of Neurobiology, NEOUCOM, Rootstown, OH

Drs. Galazyuk and Wenstrup collaborate on two projects: modulation of auditory midbrain responses by descending inputs and intracellular studies of complex response properties in the mustached bat.

Nick Fuzessery, Ph.D., Professor
Department of Zoology/Physiology, University of Wyoming Laramie, WY

Drs. Fuzessery and Wenstrup collaborate on a variety of projects related to the function and organization of the inferior colliculus in bats.

Jagmeet Kanwal, Ph.D., Associate Professor
Department of Neuroscience, Georgetown University Medical Center, Washington, D.C.

Drs. Kanwal, Portfors, and Wenstrup collaborate on a study of neural processing of social communication sounds in the inferior colliculus of mustached bats.

Christine Portfors, Ph.D., Assistant Professor
School of Biological Sciences, Washington State University, Vanvouver WA

Drs. Portfors and Wenstrup collaborate on a study of neural processing of social communication sounds in the inferior colliculus of mustached bats.

Chet Sherwood, Ph.D., Assistant Professor
School of Anthropology, Kent State University, Kent, OH

Dr. Sherwood and Wenstrup collaborated on a study of cortical lateralization in bats.

Former Laboratory Members:

Scott Leroy, Ph.D., SLeroy@ventanamed.com
Rob Marsh, Ph.D., rmarsh@fubmc.edu
David Mittmann, Ph.D., mittmann@a-msystems.com
Kiran Nataraj, Ph.D., knataraj@brandeis.edu
Christine Portfors, Ph.D., Portfors@vancouver.wsu.edu
Hesham Samy, M.D., Ph.D., samyhm@hotmail.com
Kianoush Sheykholeslami, M.D., Ph.D., kianoush48@yahoo.com