Much of our current research makes use of a brain slice
preparation of the avian brain stem auditory system. The general
lines of research currently active in my laboratory are highlighted below.
The listed publications provide examples from each of these areas
of interest. This work is funded by the National
Institute on Deafness and Other Communications Disorders (NIDCD).
Experiential influences
Sensory experience has a dramatic influence
on the development o the nervous system. In the auditory system, for example,
early deafness results in the neuronal death and atrophy. Somehow, auditory
experience keeps these neurons healthy. We are attempting to identify the
important activity -dependent signal(s) for cell survival in this system
and determine the cellular mechanisms of their action.
Neuropharmacology and Neurophysiology
In addition to characterizing physiological responses
produced by transmitter substances, we are investigating how the brain
might encode acoustic information. Specifically, we have been investigating
a neural circuit believed to be involved in coding sound location. Neurons
in this circuit have specialized features for encoding temporal aspect of auditory stimuli and
encode the location of a sound based on the differences
in the timing of information coming from the two ears.
Bush, A. L. and Hyson, R.L. (2008) Effects of lithium and deafferentation on expression of glycogen synthase kinase 3?, NF?B, ?-catenin and pCreb in the chick cochlear nucleus. Brain Research 1203:18-25.
Nicholas A. H. and Hyson, R.L. (2006) Afferent Regulation of Oxidative Stress in the Chick Cochlear Nucleus. Neuroscience, 140:1359-1368.
Bush, A. L. and Hyson, R.L. Lithium increases bcl-2 expression in chick cochlear nucleus and protects against deafferentation-induced cell death. Neuroscience, 138:1341-1349.
Hyson, R.L. (2005) The analysis of interaural time differences in the chick brain stem. Physiology & Behavior, 86: 297-305.
Nicholas A. H. and Hyson, R.L. (2004) Group I and II metabotropic glutamate receptors are necessary for the activity-dependent regulation of ribosomes in chick auditory neurons. Brain Research, 1014:110-119.
Wilkinson B. L, A. Jeromin, J. Roder, and Hyson, R.L. (2003) Activity-dependent regulation of the subcellular localization of neuronal calcium sensor-1 in the avian cochlear nucleus. Neuroscience, 117: 957-964
Wilkinson, B. L., Elam, J. S., Fadool, D. A., and Hyson, R.L. (2003) Afferent regulation of cytochrome-c and active caspase-9 in the avian cochlear nucleus. Neuroscience, 120:1071-1079.
Wilkinson, B.L., Sadler, K.A., Hyson, R.L. (2002) Rapid deafferentation-induced upregulation of bcl-2 mRNA in the chick cochlear nucleus. Molecular Brain Research, 99:67-74.
Soares, D., Chitwood, R.A., Hyson, R.L. , and Carr, C.E. (2002) The intrinsic neuronal properties of the chick nucleus angularis. Journal of Neurophysiology, 88:152-162.
Hyson, R.L. and Johnson, F. (Eds.) (1999) The Biology of Early Influences. Plenum: New York.
