Influence of developmental auditory deprivation on neuronal ultrastructure in the mouse anteroventral cochlear nucleus.

Developmental auditory deprivation caused mouse anteroventral cochlear nucleus neurons to have significantly fewer auditory nerve terminals and more non-auditory nerve terminals. This suggested that stimulation regulated the developmental arborization of auditory nerve terminals and competition for synaptic space. Intracellularly, mitochondria were smaller and darker in the deprived neurons and appeared less active metabolically. Interference with these neuronal processes may underlie the impaired development seen in auditory deprivation.