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Kresge Hearing Research Institute

Department of Otolaryngology

Faculty List

• Altschuler, Richard A.
• Carey, Thomas E.
• Dolan, David F.
• Downs, Catherine
• Duncan, R. Keith
• Gong, Tzy-Wen L.
• Green, Glenn E.
• King, W. Michael
• Kohrman, David C.
• Le Prell, Colleen
• Lesperance, Marci M.
• Lomax, Margaret I.
• Macpherson, Ewan A.
• Middlebrooks, John C.
• Miller, Josef M.
• Pfingst, Bryan E.
• Raphael, Yehoash
• Schacht, Jochen
• Sha, Su-Hua
• Shore, Susan

Retired and Emeritus

• Anderson, David
• Bledsoe, Sanford
• Hawkins, Joseph
• Lawrence, Merle
• Moody, David
• Stebbins, William

Faculty

Dr. Colleen Garbe Le Prell

Research Investigator, Cochlear Signals and Tissue Engineering Lab
E-mail:
Phone: (734) 763-5104
Fax: (734) 764-0014

Accomplishments

• Ph.D. in Psychology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan, 1998
• M.A. in Psychology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan, 1995
• B.A. in Psychology, University of Minnesota, Morris, Minnesota, 1993

Research

My primary research program focuses on central mechanisms that influence the sensitivity of the inner ear. Specifically, I am interested in the functional contributions of projections descending from the auditory brainstem (originating in or near the lateral superior olive) to the cochlea (where they innervate the dendrites of the auditory nerve afferents, and, to a lesser extent, the inner hair cells). Because these lateral olivocochlear (LOC) neurons innervate the ascending projections of the auditory nerve, they are likely to influence spontaneous activity of the auditory neurons, as well as the ascending auditory signal. Electrophysiological assessment of function in animals that lack this descending pathway confirmed LOC modulation of sound-driven auditory nerve activity. Current research activity focuses on identifying a specific role for the neurotransmitter substances that LOC neurons release at the auditory nerve synapse. LOC neurons release dopamine, dynorphin, enkephalin, GABA, acetylcholine, and CGRP. I am currently using electrophysiological and psychophysical measures of function to identify the effects of CGRP receptor agonists and antagonists in the guinea pig cochlea. Other projects evaluate auditory function in mice that do not produce aCGRP.

A second major research program which has the potential to yield significant clinical benefit has the following major goals: 1) precise characterization, in an animal model, of the efficacy of a micronutrient strategy for prevention of noise-induced hearing loss; 2) translation of this therapeutic intervention to man, and demonstration of efficacy in human clinical trials; and 3) identification of novel therapeutic strategies that include multiple agents that intervene at distinct points in the pathway to cell death and thus provide additive protection against noise-induced trauma. This research program has been developed largely in collaboration with the Cochlear Signals and Tissue Engineering Lab.

Grant Support

• Efferent Modulation of Auditory Nerve Activity via Calcitonin-Gene-Related-Peptide
  Awarded by the American Hearing Research Foundation (01/01/05 to 12/31/05). The major goal of this project is to determine the psychophysical consequences of genetic manipulation of CGRP by comparing intensity discrimination in CGRP-null and wild-type control mice.
• Functional Role of CGRP as an Efferent Neurotransmitter. NIH-NIDCD R03 DC 007342 (08/01/05 to 07/31/05). The major goals of this project are to determine the effects of CGRP agonists and antagonists on electrophysiological measures of auditory function, and identify the extent to which effects of CGRP antagonists parallel the effects of MPTP-induced disruption of LOC function.
• Age-Related Hearing Loss: Regulation by Calcitonin-Gene-Related-Peptide, Awarded by the National Organization for Hearing Research (01/01/2006 to 12/31/2007). The major goal of this project is to determine the consequences of genetic manipulation of CGRP in onset and progression of age-related hearing loss.

Publications

• Le Prell, C.G. and Moody, D.B. (2000). Factors influencing the salience of temporal cues in the discrimination of Japanese monkey coo calls. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Animal Behavior Processes, 26, 261-273.
• Le Prell, C.G., Niemiec, A.J., and Moody, D.B. (2001). Macaque thresholds for detecting increases in intensity: Effects of formant structure. Hearing Research, 162, 29-42.
• Le Prell, C.G., Hauser, M., and Moody, D.B. (2002). Discrete or graded variation within rhesus monkey screams? Psychophysical experiments on classification. Animal Behaviour, 63, 47-62.
• Le Prell, C.G. and Moody, D.B. (2002). Detection thresholds for intensity increments in a single harmonic of synthetic Japanese monkey coo calls. Journal of Comparative Psychology, 116, 253-262.
• Le Prell, C.G., Shore, S.E., Hughes, L.F., and Bledsoe, S.C. Jr. (2003). Disruption of lateral efferent pathways: Functional changes in auditory evoked responses. Journal of the Association for Research in Otolaryngology, 4, 276-290.
• Le Prell, C.G., Dolan, D.F., Schacht, J., Miller, J. M., Lomax, M., and Altschuler, R.A. (2003). Pathways for protection from noise-induced hearing loss. Noise & Health, 5, 1-17.
• Le Prell, C.G., Yagi, M., Kawamoto, K., Beyer, L. A., Atkin, G., Raphael, Y., Dolan, D. F., Bledsoe, S. C. Jr., and Moody, D. B. (2004). Chronic excitotoxicity in the guinea pig cochlea induces temporary functional deficits without disrupting otoacoustic emissions. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 116, 1044-1056.
• Le Prell, C.G., Halsey, K., Hughes, L. F., Dolan, D. F., and Bledsoe, S.C. Jr. (2005). Disruption of lateral efferent pathways via a dopaminergic neurotoxin depresses auditory nerve activity. Journal of the Association for Research in Otolaryngology, 6, 48-62.
• Yamashita, D., Jiang, H.-Y., Le Prell, C.G., Schacht, J., Miller, J. M. (2005). Post-exposure treatment attenuates noise-induced hearing loss. Neuroscience, 134, 633-642.
• Miller, J. M., Yamashita, D., Minami, S., Yamasoba, T., and Le Prell, C. G. (2006). Mechanisms and prevention of noise-induced hearing loss, Journal of Otology (Japan), in press.
• Le Prell, C.G., Kawamoto, K., Raphael, Y., and Dolan, D.F. (2006) . Electromotile hearing: Evidence that intra-cochlear electrically stimulating the intact guinea pig cochlea produces tone-like percepts. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, accepted for publication.

Book Chapters

• Le Prell, C.G., Bledsoe, S.C., Jr., Bobbin, R.P., and Puel, J.-L. (2001). Neurotransmission in the inner ear: Functional and molecular analyses. In A.F. Jahn and J. Santos-Sacchi (Eds.), Physiology of the Ear (2nd Edition), pp. 575-611. New York: Singular Publishing.
• Le Prell, C.G. and Moody, D.B. (2003). Psychophysical and perceptual studies of primate communication calls. In A. Ghazanfar (Ed.), Primate Audition: Ethology and Neurobiology, pp. 61-85. Florida: CRC Press.

Abstracts

• Le Prell, C.G., Dolan, D.F., and Moody, D.B. (2000). Electromotile hearing: Evidence that tone-like percepts are produced by electrical stimulation in the cochlea. In G.R. Popelka (Ed.), Association for Research in Otolaryngology, 23rd Midwinter Meeting Abstracts, (p 259). Des Moines, IA: Association for Research in Otolaryngology.
• Le Prell, C.G., Shore, S.E., and Bledsoe, S.C. (2001). Lesioning the lateral superior olive alters compound action potential dynamic range prior to and following traumatizing sound exposure. In P.A. Santi (Ed.), Association for Research in Otolaryngology, 24th Midwinter Meeting Abstracts, (p 46). Des Moines, IA: Association for Research in Otolaryngology.
• Le Prell, C.G., Kawamoto, K., Raphael, Y., Dolan, D.F., and Moody, D.B. (2002). Electromotile hearing: Evidence that tone-like percepts are produced by electrical stimulation of cochlear outer hair cells. In P.A. Santi (Ed.), Association for Research in Otolaryngology, 25th Midwinter Meeting Abstracts, (p 165). Mt. Royal, NJ: Association for Research in Otolaryngology.
• Le Prell, C.G. and Bledsoe, S.C. (2003). Disruption of lateral olivocochlear neurons depresses compound action potential amplitude. Association for Research in Otolaryngology, 26th Midwinter Meeting Abstracts, (p 250). Mt. Royal, NJ: Association for Research in Otolaryngology.
• Le Prell, C.G., Halsey, K., Dolan, D. F., and Bledsoe, S.C. Jr. (2004). Kappa opioid-receptor agonists depress compound action potential amplitude. Association for Research in Otolaryngology, 27th Midwinter Meeting Abstracts, (pp 329-330). Mt. Royal, NJ: Association for Research in Otolaryngology.
• Shore, S., Le Prell, C. G., and Koehler, S. (2006).  Contralateral excitation of cochlear nucleus neurons following cochlear damage is mediated by peri-olivary nuclei.  Association for Research in Otolaryngology, 29th Midwinter Meeting Abstracts.  Mt. Royal, NJ: Association for Research in Otolaryngology.
• Le Prell, C.G., Dolan, D.F., Halsey, K., Hughes, L.F., and Bledsoe, S.C. (2006).  Disruption of lateral olivocochlear neurons depresses spontaneous auditory nerve activity. Association for Research in Otolaryngology, 29th Midwinter Meeting Abstracts.  Mt. Royal, NJ: Association for Research in Otolaryngology.