Different origins of cochlear efferents in some bat species, rats, and guinea pigs

Abstract

The origin of olivocochlear efferents was studied in the rat, the guinea pig, and the bats Rhinolophus, Rhinopoma, Tadarida, and Phylostomus by retrograde labeling with HRP and the fluorescent dye fast blue. In all species with the exception of Rhinolophus rouxi two types of cochlear efferents could be found: small neurons located in the lateral superior olive (LSO) and larger ones located bilaterally in the periolivary region. In bats and rats small olivocochlear neurons (OCN) were found only in the ipsilateral LSO. In guinea pigs some small OCN were found also in the contralateral LSO. Large OCN were found in all animals except Rhinolophus. They were organized in a horseshoelike nucleus that extended in a rostrocaudal direction and bent rostrally around the medial superior olive (MSO). This nucleus contains several periolivary nuclei described separately by other authors. In Rhinol. rouxi somata of all olivocochlear efferents are concentrated in a single nucleus between the MSO and LSO, which we therefore call the nucleus olivocochlearis. This nucleus stains for acetylcholinesterase. We consider its neurons to be similar to small OCN, because they are small, associated with the LSO, and only ipsilaterally labeled. This fits well with the fact that Rhinolophus lacks an efferent innervation of outer hair cells (Bishop: Ph.D. Thesis, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, '86; Bruns and Schmieszek: Hear. Res. 3:27-43, '80), which are normally innervated by large OCN (Guinan et al: J. Comp. Neurol. 221:358-370, '83).