Evoked Potentials by Tone Burst on the Auditory Cortices in Cats -Comparison of Off Responses in Awake and Anesthetized Conditions.

BACKGROUND: Auditory Brainstem Response (ABR) recording in awake is essential to detect off-responses. This study clarified whether after-termination responses on ABR were offset responses, off-responses or a mixture of the two.

METHODS: Evoked potentials in the auditory cortex of cats in response to tone burst stimuli were recorded, and off responses were examined with chronically implanted electrodes.

RESULTS: When the fall time at the end of sound stimuli was 5ms or longer, the amplitude of click responses was extremely small. Under this condition, evoked potentials in response to two types of tone bursts (long and short) were recorded.By calculating the differences in evoked potentials between the two-tone bursts, off responses were separated. Off responses were generated during wakefulness by auditory cortex stimulation but were not observed under anesthesia. Pronounced off responses, which were middle latency responses exhibiting bis positive waves, were obtained in response to sound stimuli with a frequency of 2 kHz or higher. Vertex stimulation did not induce off responses either during wakefulness or under anesthesia.

CONCLUSION: Off responses are derived from synchronous responses of neurons in the auditory cortex, which are generated when the neurons detect attenuation in the stimulus strength at the end of tone burst stimuli.