Scholars@Duke
Nell Beatty Cant

Nell Beatty Cant

Associate Professor Emeritus of Neurobiology
Neurobiology
nellcant@neuro.duke.edu
Box 3209, Durham, NC 27710
Bryan Research Building, 311 Research Drive Room 215, Durham, NC 27710

Selected Publications

Axon trajectories in the auditory brainstem

Chapter · April 5, 2018 This chapter summarizes what is known about the organization of the axons that make up the white matter of the auditory brainstem. The sources of the axons in each of the major fiber bundles (the dorsal and intermediate acoustic striae, the ventral acousti ... Full text Cite

Patterns of convergence in the central nucleus of the inferior colliculus of the Mongolian gerbil: organization of inputs from the superior olivary complex in the low frequency representation.

Journal Article Frontiers in neural circuits · December 1, 2013 Projections to the inferior colliculus (IC) from the lateral and medial superior olivary nuclei (LSO and MSO) were studied in the gerbil (Meriones unguiculatus) with neuroanatomical tract-tracing methods. The terminal fields of projecting axons were labele ... Cite

Patterns of convergence in the central nucleus of the inferior colliculus of the Mongolian gerbil: organization of inputs from the superior olivary complex in the low frequency representation.

Journal Article Front Neural Circuits · 2013 Projections to the inferior colliculus (IC) from the lateral and medial superior olivary nuclei (LSO and MSO) were studied in the gerbil (Meriones unguiculatus) with neuroanatomical tract-tracing methods. The terminal fields of projecting axons were labele ... Full text Link to item Cite

A tribute to Jeffery A. Winer.

Journal Article Hear Res · April 2011 Full text Link to item Cite

The ventral nucleus of the lateral lemniscus of the gerbil (Meriones unguiculatus): organization of connections with the cochlear nucleus and the inferior colliculus.

Journal Article J Comp Neurol · October 20, 2008 The spatial organization of projections from the ventral cochlear nucleus (VCN) to the ventral nucleus of the lateral lemniscus (VNLL) and from the VNLL to the central nucleus of the inferior colliculus (CNIC) was investigated by using neuroanatomical trac ... Full text Link to item Cite

Organization of the inferior colliculus of the gerbil (Meriones unguiculatus): projections from the cochlear nucleus.

Journal Article Neuroscience · June 12, 2008 Projections from the cochlear nuclear complex to the inferior colliculus in the gerbil (Meriones unguiculatus) were studied using anterograde tracing methods based on axonal transport. Methods were developed to map the results onto comparable sets of secti ... Full text Link to item Cite

From cochlea to cortex: A tribute to Kirsten Kjelsberg Osen

Journal Article Neuroscience · June 12, 2008 This special issue of Neuroscience, "From Cochlea to Cortex: Recent Advances in Auditory Neuroscience," was organized as a tribute to the pioneering contributions to the field by Kirsten Kjelsberg Osen, Professor Emeritus, The University of Oslo. In this i ... Full text Cite

Multiple topographically organized projections connect the central nucleus of the inferior colliculus to the ventral division of the medial geniculate nucleus in the gerbil, Meriones unguiculatus.

Journal Article J Comp Neurol · July 20, 2007 The ventral division of the medial geniculate nucleus (MGv) receives almost all of its ascending input from the ipsilateral central nucleus of the inferior colliculus (CNIC). In a previous study (Cant and Benson [2006] J. Comp. Neurol. 495:511-528), we mad ... Full text Link to item Cite

Imaging synaptic inhibition in transgenic mice expressing the chloride indicator, Clomeleon.

Journal Article Brain Cell Biol · December 2006 We describe here a molecular genetic approach for imaging synaptic inhibition. The thy-1 promoter was used to express high levels of Clomeleon, a ratiometric fluorescent indicator for chloride ions, in discrete populations of neurons in the brains of trans ... Full text Link to item Cite

Organization of the inferior colliculus of the gerbil (Meriones unguiculatus): differences in distribution of projections from the cochlear nuclei and the superior olivary complex.

Journal Article J Comp Neurol · April 10, 2006 The inferior colliculus (IC) receives its major ascending input from the cochlear nuclei, the superior olivary complex, and the nuclei of the lateral lemniscus. To understand better the terminal distribution of the inputs from these sources relative to one ... Full text Link to item Cite

Wisteria floribunda lectin is associated with specific cell types in the ventral cochlear nucleus of the gerbil, Meriones unguiculatus.

Journal Article Hear Res · 2006 The cochlear nucleus is made up of a number of diverse cell types with different anatomical and physiological properties. A plant lectin, Wisteria floribunda agglutinin, that recognizes specific carbohydrate residues in the extracellular matrix binds to so ... Full text Link to item Cite

An atlas of the inferior colliculus of the gerbil in three dimensions.

Journal Article Hear Res · August 2005 An atlas of the inferior colliculus of the gerbil is presented in three dimensions. Sections were cut in the transverse (coronal), horizontal or saggital planes and fit to a common cartesian coordinate grid. The sections used for the atlas were reacted for ... Full text Link to item Cite

Projections from the cochlear nuclear complex to the inferior colliculus

Chapter · January 1, 2005 The substantial projections from the cochlear nuclei to the inferior colliculus (IC) do not seem to have been generally recognized as a common mammalian characteristic until about the late 1960s. Although they were described in some of the earliest experim ... Full text Cite

Parallel auditory pathways: projection patterns of the different neuronal populations in the dorsal and ventral cochlear nuclei.

Journal Article Brain Res Bull · June 15, 2003 The cochlear nuclear complex gives rise to widespread projections to nuclei throughout the brainstem. The projections arise from separate, well-defined populations of cells. None of the cell populations in the cochlear nucleus projects to all brainstem tar ... Full text Link to item Cite

Conductive hearing loss results in changes in cytochrome oxidase activity in gerbil central auditory system.

Journal Article J Assoc Res Otolaryngol · March 2002 Conductive hearing loss (CHL) restricts auditory input to an intact peripheral auditory system. Effects of deprivation on the central auditory system (CAS) have been debated, although a number of studies support the hypothesis that CHL can cause modificati ... Full text Link to item Cite

Effects of conductive hearing loss on gerbil central auditory system activity in silence.

Journal Article Hear Res · May 2001 Animal models of conductive hearing loss (CHL) show altered structure and function in the central auditory system (CAS), particularly following unilateral deprivation. Assessment of neuronal activity as measured by 2-deoxyglucose (2-DG) uptake following CH ... Full text Link to item Cite

Cholinergic projections to the visual thalamus and superior colliculus.

Journal Article Brain Res · November 13, 1999 The parabrachial region of the brainstem reticular formation projects to the dorsal lateral geniculate nucleus of the thalamus and to the intermediate gray layer of the superior colliculus. We used the retrograde axonal transport of two fluorescent labels ... Full text Link to item Cite

Conductive hearing loss results in a decrease in central auditory system activity in the young gerbil.

Journal Article Laryngoscope · September 1999 OBJECTIVES/HYPOTHESIS: The impact of childhood conductive HL (CHL) on development of auditory function has long been debated. The present study was conducted to define and compare the consequences of CHL and cochlear ablation (CA) in young and adult animal ... Full text Link to item Cite

Descending auditory pathways: projections from the inferior colliculus contact superior olivary cells that project bilaterally to the cochlear nuclei.

Journal Article J Comp Neurol · June 28, 1999 Multiple retrograde and anterograde tracers were used to characterize a pathway that extends from the inferior colliculus to both the left and right cochlear nuclei via a synaptic relay in the superior olivary complex. Different fluorescent tracers were in ... Full text Link to item Cite

Ventral nucleus of the lateral lemniscus in guinea pigs: cytoarchitecture and inputs from the cochlear nucleus.

Journal Article J Comp Neurol · March 17, 1997 Cytoarchitectonic criteria were used to distinguish three subdivisions of the ventral nucleus of the lateral lemniscus in guinea pigs. Axonal tracing techniques were used to examine the projections from the cochlear nucleus to each subdivision. Based on th ... Full text Link to item Cite

Projections from the ventral cochlear nucleus to the inferior colliculus and the contralateral cochlear nucleus in guinea pigs.

Journal Article Hear Res · December 1, 1996 Multipolar cells in the ventral cochlear nucleus are the source of projections to numerous brainstem auditory nuclei, including the contralateral and ipsilateral inferior colliculi and the contralateral cochlear nucleus. Multiple fluorescent tracers were u ... Full text Link to item Cite

Origins and targets of commissural connections between the cochlear nuclei in guinea pigs.

Journal Article J Comp Neurol · November 4, 1996 Our objective was to identify the origins and targets of axons that project from one cochlear nucleus to the other. First, retrograde tracers were injected into one cochlear nucleus to label commissural cells in the opposite nucleus. In the dorsal cochlear ... Full text Link to item Cite

Organization of the superior olivary complex in the guinea pig: II. Patterns of projection from the periolivary nuclei to the inferior colliculus.

Journal Article J Comp Neurol · March 22, 1992 The superior olivary complex is a major source of auditory projections to the inferior colliculus. Although the projections from the medial and lateral superior olivary nuclei have been well characterized, projections from the surrounding periolivary nucle ... Full text Link to item Cite

Projections from the lateral nucleus of the trapezoid body to the medial superior olivary nucleus in the gerbil.

Journal Article Hear Res · February 1992 We made small injections of horseradish peroxidase into the medial superior olivary nucleus (MSO) of gerbils in order to examine the sources of input into that nucleus. As previously described, the MSO receives inputs from neurons in the rostral part of bo ... Full text Link to item Cite

Organization of the superior olivary complex in the guinea pig. I. Cytoarchitecture, cytochrome oxidase histochemistry, and dendritic morphology.

Journal Article J Comp Neurol · December 22, 1991 The superior olivary complex is a prominent component of the auditory system. It consists of the lateral and medial superior olivary nuclei and a large number of smaller cell groups known as the periolivary nuclei, which are sources of both ascending and d ... Full text Link to item Cite

Immunoreactivity to calcitonin gene-related peptide in the superior olivary complex and cochlea of cat and rat.

Journal Article Hear Res · December 1987 In both cat and rat, the cells of origin, axons, and terminals of the lateral olivocochlear system exhibit immunoreactivity to antisera to calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP). In the cat, immunoreactive neurons in the brainstem are located in the hilus ... Full text Link to item Cite

Descending projections from the superior olivary complex to the cochlear nucleus of the cat.

Journal Article J Comp Neurol · May 15, 1987 Subdivisions of the cochlear nuclear complex give rise to a number of discrete projections to certain cell groups of the superior olivary complex and also received substantial descending projections from the periolivary nuclei. In the present study, we sou ... Full text Link to item Cite

Projections from the anteroventral cochlear nucleus to the lateral and medial superior olivary nuclei.

Journal Article J Comp Neurol · May 22, 1986 The projections from the cochlear nucleus to the lateral and medial superior olivary nuclei were studied in the cat by use of retrograde transport of horseradish peroxidase to demonstrate the connections. The medial superior olivary nucleus receives input ... Full text Link to item Cite

Development of oriented dendritic fields in the dorsal cochlear nucleus of the hamster.

Journal Article Neuroscience · December 1985 The shapes of the apical and basal dendritic fields of the fusiform cells in the dorsal cochlear nucleus of the hamster were analyzed quantitatively. Measurements of the cross-sectional areas of the dendritic fields in planes parallel and perpendicular to ... Full text Link to item Cite

Glutamate decarboxylase immunoreactivity in the intermediate grey layer of the superior colliculus in the cat.

Journal Article Neuroscience · September 1985 Recent evidence suggests that gamma-aminobutyrate has a profound influence on the activity of premotor neurons in the intermediate grey layer of the superior colliculus. In the present study an antibody to glutamate decarboxylase, the synthesizing enzyme f ... Full text Link to item Cite

Differentiation of the giant and fusiform cells in the dorsal cochlear nucleus of the hamster.

Journal Article Brain Res · May 1985 Two categories of large neurons--fusiform cells and giant cells--can be distinguished in the dorsal cochlear nucleus of the hamster. In the adult, these neurons are located in separate laminae in the nucleus and have distinct dendritic morphology. However, ... Full text Link to item Cite

The fine structure of the lateral superior olivary nucleus of the cat.

Journal Article J Comp Neurol · July 20, 1984 The synaptic organization of the lateral superior olivary nucleus of the cat was analyzed under the electron microscope. The predominant cell type, the fusiform cell, has dendrites that extend from opposite poles of the cell body toward the margins of the ... Full text Link to item Cite

Development of the cochlear innervation of the dorsal cochlear nucleus of the hamster.

Journal Article J Comp Neurol · May 10, 1984 The development of cochlear fibers and terminals in the dorsal cochlear nucleus of the hamster was studied with light and electron microscopic techniques. Like the dorsal cochlear nucleus of most other mammals, the dorsal cochlear nucleus of the adult hams ... Full text Link to item Cite

Pathways connecting the right and left cochlear nuclei.

Journal Article J Comp Neurol · December 10, 1982 Connections between the right and left cochlear nuclei were studied with retrograde and anterograde axonal transport techniques. Large, multipolar neurons in the anterior and posterior divisions of the anteroventral cochlear nucleus and in the posteroventr ... Full text Link to item Cite