The cochlear nerve (also auditory nerve or acoustic nerve) is one of two parts of the

vestibulocochlear nerve The vestibulocochlear nerve or auditory vestibular nerve, also known as the eighth cranial nerve, cranial nerve VIII, or simply CN VIII, is a cranial nerve that transmits sound and equilibrium (balance) information from the inner ear to the bra ...

, a

cranial nerve Cranial nerves are the nerves that emerge directly from the brain (including the brainstem), of which there are conventionally considered twelve pairs. Cranial nerves relay information between the brain and parts of the body, primarily to and ...

present in

amniote Amniotes are a clade of tetrapod vertebrates that comprises sauropsids (including all reptiles and birds, and extinct parareptiles and non-avian dinosaurs) and synapsids (including pelycosaurs and therapsids such as mammals). They are disti ...

s, the other part being the vestibular nerve. The cochlear nerve carries auditory sensory information from the

cochlea The cochlea is the part of the inner ear involved in hearing. It is a spiral-shaped cavity in the bony labyrinth, in humans making 2.75 turns around its axis, the modiolus. A core component of the cochlea is the Organ of Corti, the sensory org ...

of the

inner ear The inner ear (internal ear, auris interna) is the innermost part of the vertebrate ear. In vertebrates, the inner ear is mainly responsible for sound detection and balance. In mammals, it consists of the bony labyrinth, a hollow cavity in the ...

directly to the

brain A brain is an organ that serves as the center of the nervous system in all vertebrate and most invertebrate animals. It is located in the head, usually close to the sensory organs for senses such as vision. It is the most complex organ in a v ...

. The other portion of the vestibulocochlear nerve is the

vestibular nerve The vestibular nerve is one of the two branches of the vestibulocochlear nerve (the cochlear nerve being the other). In humans the vestibular nerve transmits sensory information transmitted by vestibular hair cells located in the two otolith orga ...

, which carries spatial orientation information to the brain from the

semicircular canals The semicircular canals or semicircular ducts are three semicircular, interconnected tubes located in the innermost part of each ear, the inner ear. The three canals are the horizontal, superior and posterior semicircular canals. Structure The ...

, also known as semicircular ducts.

Anatomy and connections

In terms of anatomy, an auditory nerve fiber is either bipolar or unipolar, with its distal projection being called the

peripheral process A peripheral or peripheral device is an auxiliary device used to put information into and get information out of a computer. The term ''peripheral device'' refers to all hardware components that are attached to a computer and are controlled by the ...

, and its proximal projection being called the

axon An axon (from Greek ἄξων ''áxōn'', axis), or nerve fiber (or nerve fibre: see spelling differences), is a long, slender projection of a nerve cell, or neuron, in vertebrates, that typically conducts electrical impulses known as action po ...

; these two projections are also known as the "peripheral axon" and the "central axon", respectively. The peripheral process is sometimes referred to as a

dendrite Dendrites (from Greek δένδρον ''déndron'', "tree"), also dendrons, are branched protoplasmic extensions of a nerve cell that propagate the electrochemical stimulation received from other neural cells to the cell body, or soma, of the n ...

, although that term is somewhat inaccurate. Unlike the typical dendrite, the peripheral process generates and conducts

action potential An action potential occurs when the membrane potential of a specific cell location rapidly rises and falls. This depolarization then causes adjacent locations to similarly depolarize. Action potentials occur in several types of animal cells, ...

s, which then "jump" across the cell body (or ''soma'') and continue to propagate along the central axon. In this respect, auditory nerve fibers are somewhat unusual in that action potentials pass through the soma. Both the peripheral process and the axon are

myelin Myelin is a lipid-rich material that surrounds nerve cell axons (the nervous system's "wires") to insulate them and increase the rate at which electrical impulses (called action potentials) are passed along the axon. The myelinated axon can be ...

ated. In humans, there are on average 30,000 nerve fibers within the cochlear nerve. The number of fibers varies significantly across species; the domestic cat, for example, has an average of 50,000 fibers. The peripheral axons of auditory nerve fibers form synaptic connections with the hair cells of the

via

ribbon synapse The ribbon synapse is a type of neuronal synapse characterized by the presence of an electron-dense structure, the synaptic ribbon, that holds vesicles close to the active zone. It is characterized by a tight vesicle- calcium channel coupling th ...

s using the neurotransmitter

glutamate Glutamic acid (symbol Glu or E; the ionic form is known as glutamate) is an α-amino acid that is used by almost all living beings in the biosynthesis of proteins. It is a non-essential nutrient for humans, meaning that the human body can syn ...

. The central axons form synaptic connections with cells in the

cochlear nucleus The cochlear nuclear (CN) complex comprises two cranial nerve nuclei in the human brainstem, the ventral cochlear nucleus (VCN) and the dorsal cochlear nucleus (DCN). The ventral cochlear nucleus is unlayered whereas the dorsal cochlear nucleus ...

of the brainstem. The cell bodies of the cochlear nerve lie within the cochlea and collectively form the

spiral ganglion The spiral (cochlear) ganglion is a group of neuron cell bodies in the modiolus, the conical central axis of the cochlea. These bipolar neurons innervate the hair cells of the organ of Corti. They project their axons to the ventral and dorsal co ...

, named for the spiral shape it shares with the cochlea. These central axons exit the cochlea at its base and form a

nerve trunk A nerve is an enclosed, cable-like bundle of nerve fibers (called axons) in the peripheral nervous system. A nerve transmits electrical impulses. It is the basic unit of the peripheral nervous system. A nerve provides a common pathway for the e ...

, which, in humans, is approximately one inch long. This travels in parallel with the vestibular nerves through the

internal auditory canal The internal auditory meatus (also meatus acusticus internus, internal acoustic meatus, internal auditory canal, or internal acoustic canal) is a canal within the petrous part of the temporal bone of the skull between the posterior cranial fossa ...

, through which it connects to the brainstem. There, its fibers synapse with the cell bodies of the

Types of neurons

In mammals, cochlear nerve fibers are classified as either type I or type II. * Type I neurons make up 90-95% of the neurons and innervate the inner hair cells. They have relatively large diameters, are bipolar, and are myelinated. Each type I axon innervates only a single inner hair cell, but each inner hair cell is innervated by up to 30 such nerve fibers, depending on species and location within the cochlea. * Type II neurons make up the remaining 5-10% of the neurons and innervate the outer hair cells. They have relatively small diameters, are unipolar, and are unmyelinated.

Cochlear nuclear complex

In mammals, the axons from each cochlear nerve terminate in the cochlear nuclear complex that is ipsilaterally located in the medulla of the brainstem. The cochlear nucleus is the first 'relay station' of the central auditory system and receives mainly ipsilateral afferent input. The three major components of the cochlear nuclear complex are (see figure below): * the dorsal cochlear nucleus (DCN) * the anteroventral cochlear nucleus (AVCN) * the posteroventral cochlear nucleus (PVCN) Each of the three cochlear nuclei are tonotopically organized. The axons from the low-frequency region of the cochlea project to the ventral portion of the dorsal cochlear nucleus and the ventrolateral portions of the anteroventral cochlear nucleus. The axons from the high-frequency region project to the dorsal portion of the anteroventral cochlear nucleus and the uppermost dorsal portions of the dorsal cochlear nucleus. The axons from the intermediate frequency region project to intermediate targets, such that

tonotopy In physiology, tonotopy (from Greek tono = frequency and topos = place) is the spatial arrangement of where sounds of different frequency are processed in the brain. Tones close to each other in terms of frequency are represented in topologically ...

is preserved between the cochlea and the cochlear nuclei.

References

Additional images

File:Ear-anatomy-text-small-en.svg, Ear anatomy File:Cochlear_nucleus_innervated_by_a_branching_auditory_nerve_fibre.JPG, Cochlear nucleus innervated by a branching auditory nerve fibre File:Gray761.png, Terminal nuclei of the vestibular nerve, with their upper connections. File:Gray903.png, Transverse section of the cochlear duct of a fetal cat. File:Gray929.png, Floor of ductus cochlearis. file:Gray928.png, Diagrammatic longitudinal section of the cochlea file:Organ of corti.svg,

Organ of Corti The organ of Corti, or spiral organ, is the receptor organ for hearing and is located in the mammalian cochlea. This highly varied strip of epithelial cells allows for transduction of auditory signals into nerve impulses' action potential. Transd ...

External links