Abstract #0229

Zou J, Sanes D, Yu X, Turnbull D, Zaim Wadghiri Y

Mn-enhanced MRI (MEMRI) can be used to produce 3D representations of sound-evoked activity in the awake mouse, consistent with previous electrophysiological activity maps. Significantly, our studies revealed a clear coding of sound frequency and amplitude in the mouse midbrain. The 3D spatial distribution of the frequency- and amplitude- sensitive neurons has been demonstrated in the midbrain by an unbiased statistical analysis of MEMRI data. These results further our understanding of the signal processing in the auditory system and broaden the application of MEMRI to studies of sensory perception in the brain.