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Seasonal-like plasticity of spontaneous firing rate in a songbird pre-motor nucleus

TitleSeasonal-like plasticity of spontaneous firing rate in a songbird pre-motor nucleus
Publication TypeJournal Article
Year of Publication2005
AuthorsPark KH, Meitzen J, Moore IT, Brenowitz EA, Perkel DJ
JournalJ Neurobiol
Volume64
Issue2
Pagination181-91
Date Published2005
ISBN Number0022-3034 (Print)0022-3034 (Linking)
KeywordsCues, Analysis of Variance, Action Potentials/drug effects/*physiology, Animals, Vocalization, Animal/drug effects/*physiology, Brain/*cytology/drug effects/physiology, Dihydrotestosterone/blood/pharmacology, Drug Interactions, Estradiol/blood/pharmacology, Male, Neural Pathways/drug effects/physiology, Neuronal Plasticity/drug effects/*physiology, Photoperiod, Neurons/drug effects/*physiology, Songbirds, Statistics as Topic, Testosterone/blood/pharmacology, Universities
Abstract

Many animals exhibit seasonal changes in behavior and its underlying neural substrates. In seasonally breeding songbirds, the brain nuclei that control song learning and production undergo substantial structural changes at the onset of each breeding season, in association with changes in song behavior. These changes are largely mediated by photoperiod-dependent changes in circulating concentrations of gonadal steroid hormones. Little is known, however, about whether changes in the electrophysiological activity of neurons accompany the dramatic morphological changes in the song nuclei. Here we induced seasonal-like changes in the song systems of adult white-crowned sparrows and used extracellular recording in acute brain slices from those individuals to study physiological properties of neurons in the robust nucleus of the arcopallium (RA), a pre-motor nucleus necessary for song production. We report that: RA neurons from birds in breeding condition show a more than twofold increase in spontaneous firing rate compared to those from nonbreeding condition; this change appears to require both androgenic and estrogenic actions; and this change is intrinsic to the RA neurons. Thus, neurons in the song circuit exhibit both morphological and physiological adult seasonal plasticity.

URLhttp://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&dopt=Citation&list_uids=15818555