| Brain: Anterior cochlear nucleus | ||
|---|---|---|
| anterior cochlear nucleus is #3, at upper left | ||
| Latin | nucleus cochlearis anterior | |
| Gray's | subject #187 788 | |
| NeuroNames | hier-719 | |
| NeuroLex ID | birnlex_2567 | |
The ventral cochlear nucleus (or anterior, or accessory ), placed between the two divisions of the cochlear nerve, is on the ventral aspect of the inferior peduncle. Composed of several regions of distinct cell types, this nucleus serves primarily as a relay station for ascending auditory information. Bushy cells in the anterior ventral cochlear nucleus (AVCN), which receive end bulbs of Held from auditory nerve fibers, project to the superior olivary complex through the trapezoid body and intermediate acoustic stria. Other cell types project to the lateral lemniscus and the inferior colliculus directly.
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The VCN contains several cell types, which correspond fairly well with different physiological unit types. Additionally, these cell types generally have specific projection patterns.
Named due to the branching, tree-like, nature of their dentritic fields, visible using Golgi's method, receive large end bulbs of held from auditory nerve fibers. These cells can be further subdivided into spherical and globular types based upon their appearance in Nissl-stained material, and their location in the nucleus (anterior AVCN and posterior AVCN respectively).
Globular bushy cells project large axons to the contralateral MNTB where they synapse onto principal cells via a single calyx of Held, and several smaller collaterals synapse ipsilaterally in the posterior (PPO) & dorsolateral periolivary (DLPO) nuclei, lateral superior olive (LSO), and lateral nucleus of the trapezoid body (LNTB); contralaterally in the dorsomedial periolivary nucleus (DMPO), ventral nucleus of the trapezoid body (VNTB), nucleus paragigantocellularis lateralis (PGL), and ventral nucleus of the lateral lemniscus (VNLL). Axons always send a collateral into the MNTB, but do not necessarily give rise to collaterals that innervate each of the other nuclei.[1]
Spherical bushy cells project ipsilaterally to the LSO, bilaterally to the Medial superior olive (MSO) and LNTB, and contralaterally to the VNTB and VNLL. The most important purpose of these projections seems to be to imbue the MSO and LSO with their interaural time and level sensitivities (respectively).[2]
This article was originally based on an entry from a public domain edition of Gray's Anatomy. As such, some of the information contained within it may be outdated.
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