Group II metabotropic glutamate receptors modulate sound evoked and spontaneous activity in the mouse inferior colliculus

Little is known about the functions of group II metabotropic glutamate receptors (mGluRs2/3) in the inferior colliculus (IC)—a midbrain structure that is a major integration region of the central auditory system. We investigated how these receptors modulate sound-evoked and spontaneous firing in the mouse IC in vivo . We first performed immunostaining and tested hearing thresholds to validate VGAT-ChR2 transgenic mice on a mixed CBA/CaJ x C57BL/6J genetic background. Transgenic animals allowed for optogenetic cell type identification. Extracellular single neuron recordings were obtained before and after pharmacological mGluR2/3 activation. We observed increased sound-evoked firing—as assessed by the rate-level functions—in a subset of both GABAergic and non-GABAergic IC neurons following mGluR2/3 pharmacological activation. These neurons also displayed elevated spontaneous excitability and were distributed throughout the IC area tested, suggesting a widespread mGluR2/3 distribution in the mouse IC.