Nitric oxide signalling underlies salicylate-induced increases in neuronal firing in the inferior colliculus: A central mechanism of tinnitus?

The anti-inflammatory drug salicylate induces tinnitus in animals and man. Salicylate reduces cochlear output but causes hyperactivity in higher auditory centres, including the inferior colliculus (the auditory midbrain). Using multi-electrode recording in anaesthetised guinea pigs (Cavia porcellus), we addressed the hypothesis that salicylate-induced hyperactivity in the inferior colliculus involves nitric oxide signalling secondary to increased ascending excitatory input.

Single-Element Diffraction-Limited Fisheye Metalens.

Wide field-of-view (FOV) optical functionality is crucial for implementation of advanced imaging and image projection devices. Conventionally, wide FOV operation is attained with complicated assembly of multiple optical elements known as "fisheye lenses". Here we present a novel metalens design capable of performing diffraction-limited focusing and imaging over an unprecedented near 180° angular FOV.

Transform-Limited Photons From a Coherent Tin-Vacancy Spin in Diamond.

Solid-state quantum emitters that couple coherent optical transitions to long-lived spin qubits are essential for quantum networks. Here we report on the spin and optical properties of individual tin-vacancy (SnV) centers in diamond nanostructures. Through cryogenic magneto-optical and spin spectroscopy, we verify the inversion-symmetric electronic structure of the SnV, identify spin-conserving and spin-flipping transitions, characterize transition linewidths, measure electron spin lifetimes, and evaluate the spin dephasing time.

All-Optical Quantum Sensing of Rotational Brownian Motion of Magnetic Molecules.

Sensing the local environment through the motional response of small molecules lays the foundation of many fundamental technologies. The information on local viscosity, for example, is contained in the random rotational Brownian motions of molecules. However, detection of the motions is challenging for molecules with sub-nanometer scale or high motional rates.

Neural and Response Correlations to Complex Natural Sounds in the Auditory Midbrain.

How natural communication sounds are spatially represented across the inferior colliculus, the main center of convergence for auditory information in the midbrain, is not known. The neural representation of the acoustic stimuli results from the interplay of locally differing input and the organization of spectral and temporal neural preferences that change gradually across the nucleus. This raises the question of how similar the neural representation of the communication sounds is across these gradients of neural preferences, and whether it also changes gradually.

Natural Vocalizations in the Mammalian Inferior Colliculus are Broadly Encoded by a Small Number of Independent Multi-Units.

How complex natural sounds are represented by the main converging center of the auditory midbrain, the central inferior colliculus, is an open question. We applied neural discrimination to determine the variation of detailed encoding of individual vocalizations across the best frequency gradient of the central inferior colliculus. The analysis was based on collective responses from several neurons.