trapezoid body

The trapezoid body is part of the auditory pathway.

The trapezoid body, involved in binaural hearing, is part of the pontine tegmentum.

The superior olivary nucleus is situated on the dorsal surface of the trapezoid body.

This projection is called the ventral acoustic stria (VAS or, more commonly, the trapezoid body).

Medial nucleus of the trapezoid body (MNTB)

The Trapezoid body is a bundle of decussating fibers in the ventral pons that carry information used for binaural computations in the brainstem.

The MNTB, in the trapezoid body, is composed of mainly neurons with round cell bodies which utilize glycine as a neurotransmitter.

Axons leaving the ventral cochlear nucleus (VCN) form a broad pathway that crosses under the brain stem in the trapezoid body.

Medial superior olive (MSO) via trapezoid body (TB) - Ipsilateral and contralateral stimulation for low frequency sounds.

A thin pathway, the intermediate acoustic stria, also leaves the VCN, merging with the trapezoid body close to the superior olivary complex, where many of its axons synapse.

Through the medulla, one projection goes to the contralateral superior olivary complex (SOC) via the trapezoid body, whilst the other half shoots to the ipsilateral SOC.

The axons of both cell types leave the AVCN as large tract called the ventral acoustic stria, which forms part of the trapezoid body and travels to the superior olivary complex.

The superior olivary complex is divided into three primary nuclei, the MSO, LSO, and the Medial nucleus of the trapezoid body, and several smaller periolivary nuclei.

The LSO receives excitatory, glutamatergic input from spherical bushy cells in the ipsilateral cochlear nucleus and inhibitory, glycinergic input from the medial nucleus of the trapezoid body (MNTB).

Bushy cells in the anterior ventral cochlear nucleus (AVCN), which receive end bulbs of Held from auditory nerve fibers, project to the superior olivary complex through the trapezoid body and intermediate acoustic stria.

The AVCN consists of spherical bushy cells and globular bushy cells and can also transmit signals to the medial nucleus of the trapezoid body (MNTB), whose neuron projects to the MSO.

Globular bushy cells in the Ventral Cochlear Nucleus (VCN) send axons to the contralateral Medial Nucleus of the Trapezoid body (MNTB), where they synapse via these calyces on MNTB principal cells.

The superior olivary complex is generally located in the pons, but in human extends from the rostral medulla to the mid-pons and receives projections predominantly from the anteroventral cochlear nucleus via the trapezoid body, although the posteroventral nucleus projects to the SOC via the intermediate acoustic stria.

The SOC is intimately related to the trapezoid body: most of the cell groups of the SOC are dorsal (posterior in primates) to this axon bundle while a number of cell groups are embedded in the trapezoid body.