Plastic changes in the mouse inferior colliculus studied by [14C] deoxyglucose technique

Plastic reorganization in the inferior colliculus after unilateral destruction of the cochlea in the mouse was studied by means of the autoradiographic [14C]deoxyglucose (DG) technique. Autoradiographs of the brains of mice exposed to white noise were obtained successively on different days after unilateral cochlear destruction. Autoradiographs obtained on the fourth day after the destruction showed an asymmetric uptake of DG into the inferior colliculi, i.e., the uptake on the ipsilateral side to the intact cochlea remarkably decreased. This result is similar to the previous observations by the neuroanatomical [K. K. Osen, J. Comp. Neur. 144, 355–372 (1972)], and by the DG techniques [L. Sokoloff, Neurosci. Res. Prog. Bull. 14, 489 (1976)]. On the 18th day, however, the DG uptake into the inferior colliculus ipsilateral to the intact cochlea increased and practically the symmetrical uptake was attained. Such plastic changes suggest that additional neural connections may be formed via the commissure of the inferior colliculi or ipsilaterally via the lateral lemniscus.