Salicylate-induced auditory perceptual disorders and plastic changes in nonclassical auditory centers in rats.

Previous studies have shown that sodium salicylate (SS) activates not only central auditory structures, but also nonauditory regions associated with emotion and memory. To identify electrophysiological changes in the nonauditory regions, we recorded sound-evoked local field potentials and multiunit discharges from the striatum, amygdala, hippocampus, and cingulate cortex after SS-treatment. The SS-treatment produced behavioral evidence of tinnitus and hyperacusis.

A novel behavioral assay for the assessment of acute tinnitus in rats optimized for simultaneous recording of oscillatory neural activity.

Background: Human magneto/electrophysiology studies suggest that the phantom sound of tinnitus arises from spontaneous oscillatory neural activity in auditory cortex; however, in animal models, behavioral techniques suitable for testing this hypothesis in combination with electrophysiology recordings have yet to be evaluated. While electrophysiological studies of tinnitus have been reported in passive, awake animals, these studies fail to control for attentional mechanisms likely to play a role in the perception of tinnitus.

New Method: A novel appetitive operant conditioning, two-alternative identification task was developed for detecting acute tinnitus in rats.