Calcium-Sensitive Subthreshold Oscillations and Electrical Coupling in Principal Cells of Mouse Dorsal Cochlear Nucleus

In higher sensory brain regions, slow oscillations (0.5–5 Hz) associated with quiet wakefulness and attention modulate multisensory integration, predictive coding, and perception. Although often assumed to originate via thalamocortical mechanisms, the extent to which subcortical sensory pathways are independently capable of slow oscillatory activity is unclear. We find that in the first station for auditory processing, the cochlear nucleus, fusiform cells from juvenile mice (of either sex) generate robust 1–2 Hz oscillations in membrane potential and exhibit electrical resonance. Such oscillations were absent prior to the onset of hearing, intrinsically generated by hyperpolarization-activated cyclic nucleotide-gated (HCN) and persistent Na⁺ conductances (NaP) interacting with passive membrane properties, and reflected the intrinsic resonance properties of fusiform cells. Cx36-containing gap junctions facilitated oscillation strength and promoted pairwise synchrony of oscillations between neighboring neurons. The strength of oscillations were strikingly sensitive to external Ca²⁺, disappearing at concentrations >1.7 mM, due in part to the shunting effect of small-conductance calcium-activated potassium (SK) channels. This effect explains their apparent absence in previous in vitro studies of cochlear nucleus which routinely employed high-Ca²⁺ extracellular solution. In contrast, oscillations were amplified in reduced Ca²⁺ solutions, due to relief of suppression by Ca²⁺ of Na⁺ channel gating. Our results thus reveal mechanisms for synchronous oscillatory activity in auditory brainstem, suggesting that slow oscillations, and by extension their perceptual effects, may originate at the earliest stages of sensory processing.