Using indirect inference to identify models of vestibular nerve response in an isolated inner ear

Measuring nerve signal response from the balance organs of mammals is a challenging task in a live specimen (in vivo). Using data obtained instead from a set of isolated (in vitro) preparations from mice, and using a similar experimental method to the typical in vivo procedure, we fit model parameters to the in vitro system to investigate its nerve response dynamics. First, a non parametric transfer function is obtained for the system using several preprocessing steps, and then indirect inference is used as an identification tool to fit two model structures described in existing literature. The ability of each structure to fit the experiment data is assessed, and the resultant model fits are compared with typical in vivo models for mice. The results suggest that the vestibular nerve dynamics in vitro are similar to those modelled from in vivo data, particularly for nerve afferents classified as 'irregular' in the literature.