Coincidence detection at the nucleus laminaris (NL) of a chicken was improved between embryos (embryonic days (E) 16 and 17) and chicks (post-hatch days (P) 2-7) in slice preparations. Electrical stimuli were applied bilaterally to the projection fibres to the NL at various intervals. The response window corresponding to the temporal separation of electrical stimuli that resulted in half-maximal firing probability was adopted as the measure of coincidence detection, and was narrower in chicks (1.4 ms) than in embryos (3.9 ms). Between these two ages, the membrane time constant of NL neurons was reduced from 18.4 to 3.2 ms and the membrane conductance was increased 5-fold, while no difference was measured in the input capacitance. Evoked EPSCs decayed slightly faster in chicks, while the size and the time course of miniature EPSCs were unchanged. Action potentials had lower thresholds and larger after-hyperpolarization in chicks than in embryos. Dendrotoxin-I depolarized cells and increased their input resistance significantly at both ages, eliminated the after-hyperpolarization, and delayed the decay phase of action potentials, indicative of the expression of low-threshold K(+) channels. Cs(+) hyperpolarized the cells, increased the input resistance and eliminated sags during hyperpolarization at both ages, while the hyperpolarization sag was affected by neither Ba(2+) nor TEA. These data indicate the expression of hyperpolarization-activated cation channels. Between these two ages, the maximum conductance of low-threshold K(+) channels increased 4-fold to about 16 nS, and hyperpolarization-activated channels increased 6-fold to about 10 nS. Improvement of coincidence detection correlated with the acceleration of the EPSP time course as a result of the increase of these conductances.