How does testosterone act to regulate a multifaceted adaptive response? Lessons from studies of the avian song system

2019 ◽  
Vol 32 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Gregory F. Ball ◽  
Farrah N. Madison ◽  
Jacques Balthazart ◽  
Beau A. Alward
Keyword(s):  
Adaptive Response ◽  
Song System ◽  
Avian Song

scholarly journals Unilateral vocal nerve resection alters neurogenesis in the avian song system in a region-specific manner

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jake V. Aronowitz ◽  
Alice Perez ◽  
Christopher O’Brien ◽  
Siaresh Aziz ◽  
Erica Rodriguez ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Brain Regions ◽  
Motor Pathway ◽  
Neuron Survival ◽  
Song System ◽  
General Rules ◽  
Caudomedial Nidopallium ◽  
Area X ◽  
Side Dominance ◽  
Avian Song ◽  
Behavioral Feedback

AbstractNew neurons undergo a critical period soon after migration during which the behavior of the animal may result in the survival or culling of these cells. In the songbird song system, new neurons may be maintained in the song motor pathway with respect to motor progression toward a target song--during juvenile song learning, seasonal song restructuring, and experimentally manipulated song variability. However, it is not known whether the quality of song per se, without progressive improvement, may also influence new neuron survival. To test this idea, we experimentally altered song acoustic structure by unilateral denervation of the syrinx. We found no effect of aberrant song on numbers of new neurons in the HVC of the song motor pathway, a loss of left-side dominance in new neurons in the auditory region caudomedial nidopallium (NCM), and a bilateral decrease in new neurons in the basal ganglia nucleus Area X. We propose new neuron survival may be determined in response to behavioral feedback in accordance with the function of new neurons within a given brain region. Studying the effects of singing behaviors on new neurons across multiple brain regions that subserve singing may give rise to general rules underlying the regulation of new neuron survival across taxa and brain regions more broadly.

scholarly journals An introduction to birdsong and the avian song system

1997 ◽  
Vol 33 (5) ◽  
pp. 495-500 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eliot A. Brenowitz ◽  
Daniel Margoliash ◽  
Kathy W. Nordeen
Keyword(s):  
Song System ◽  
Avian Song

Expression of the potassium-chloride co-transporter, KCC2, within the avian song system

2018 ◽  
Vol 526 (6) ◽  
pp. 944-956
Author(s):  
Christopher E. Vaaga ◽  
Kimberly E. Miller ◽  
Ágnes L. Bodor ◽  
David J. Perkel
Keyword(s):  
Potassium Chloride ◽  
Song System ◽  
Avian Song

Sensorimotor Nucleus NIf Is Necessary for Auditory Processing But Not Vocal Motor Output in the Avian Song System

2005 ◽  
Vol 93 (4) ◽  
pp. 2157-2166 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jessica A. Cardin ◽  
Jonathan N. Raksin ◽  
Marc F. Schmidt
Keyword(s):  
Auditory Processing ◽  
Sensorimotor Integration ◽  
Motor Behavior ◽  
Motor Output ◽  
Zebra Finches ◽  
Auditory Input ◽  
Song System ◽  
Song Production ◽  
Avian Song

Sensorimotor integration in the avian song system is crucial for both learning and maintenance of song, a vocal motor behavior. Although a number of song system areas demonstrate both sensory and motor characteristics, their exact roles in auditory and premotor processing are unclear. In particular, it is unknown whether input from the forebrain nucleus interface of the nidopallium (NIf), which exhibits both sensory and premotor activity, is necessary for both auditory and premotor processing in its target, HVC. Here we show that bilateral NIf lesions result in long-term loss of HVC auditory activity but do not impair song production. NIf is thus a major source of auditory input to HVC, but an intact NIf is not necessary for motor output in adult zebra finches.

Molecular basis of the avian song system development

2007 ◽  
Vol 58 ◽  
pp. S24
Author(s):  
Eiji Matsunaga ◽  
Kazuo Okanoya
Keyword(s):  
Molecular Basis ◽  
System Development ◽  
Song System ◽  
Avian Song

Song System Auditory Responses Are Stable and Highly Tuned During Sedation, Rapidly Modulated and Unselective During Wakefulness, and Suppressed By Arousal

2003 ◽  
Vol 90 (5) ◽  
pp. 2884-2899 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jessica A. Cardin ◽  
Marc F. Schmidt
Keyword(s):  
Sensory Processing ◽  
Brain Area ◽  
Stimulus Presentation ◽  
Negative Regulator ◽  
Behavioral State ◽  
Song System ◽  
Auditory Responses ◽  
Field L ◽  
System Responsiveness ◽  
Avian Song

We used auditory responsiveness in the avian song system to investigate the complex relationship between behavioral state and sensory processing in a high-order sensorimotor brain area. We present evidence from recordings in awake, anesthetized, and sleeping male zebra finches ( Taeniopygia guttata) that auditory responsiveness in nucleus HVc is profoundly affected by changes in behavioral state. In anesthetized and sleeping birds, auditory responses were characterized by an increase in firing rate that was selective for the bird's own song (BOS) and highly stable over time. In contrast, HVc responses during wakefulness were extremely variable and transitioned between undetectable and robust levels over short intervals. Surprisingly, auditory responses in awake birds were not selective for the BOS stimulus. The variability of HVc auditory responses in awake birds suggests that, as in mammals, wakefulness is not a uniform behavioral state. Rather, auditory responsiveness likely is continually influenced by variables such as arousal state. We therefore developed several experimental paradigms in which we could manipulate arousal levels during auditory stimulus presentation. In all cases, arousal suppressed HVc auditory responses. This effect was specific to the song system, as auditory responses in Field L, a primary auditory area that is a source of auditory input to HVc, were unaffected. While arousal acts as a negative regulator of HVc auditory responsiveness, the presence and variability of the responses observed in awake, alert birds suggests that other mechanisms, such as attention, may enhance auditory responsiveness. The interplay between behavioral state and sensory processing may regulate song system responsiveness according to the bird's behavioral and social context.

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