One-tone suppression in the frog auditory nerve

Abstract

Sixty-seven fibers of a sample of 401 in the auditory nerve of grassfrogs (Rana temporaria) showed one-tone suppression, i.e., their spontaneous activity was suppressed by tones. All fibers were afferents from the amphibian papilla with best frequencies between 100 and 400 Hz. Best suppression frequencies ranged from 700 to 1200 Hz. Spontaneous activities for the fibers showing one-tone suppression ranged from 3 to 75 spikes/s. Spontaneous activities above 40 spikes/s and the phenomenon of one-tone suppression itself has not been reported previously for frogs. The population of fibers showing one-tone suppression comprises 81% of all fibers with best frequencies below 400 Hz and spontaneous activities higher than 3 spikes/s, indicating that the mechanism underlying the suppression is quite general.