Nell Cant
The inferior colliculus (IC) is the site of convergence of inputs from a large number of brainstem auditory nuclei as well as from the forebrain and non-auditory sources. We are using retrograde and anterograde neuroanatomical tracing methods to characterize the extent of the terminal fields in the IC from some of the major sources of input. We wish to determine the extent to which inputs from the different sources overlap or are segregated from each other. One of our main goals is to correlate differences in the terminal distribution from various sources with the regional differences in staining patterns that we see in simple background stains such as cytochrome oxidase histochemistry and lectin binding. These simple stains can be used routinely for localization of physiological recording sites, and if we can understand how they are related to the regional distribution of inputs to the IC, we can achieve more definitive structure-function correlations than we currently have.