NEUROBIOLOGICAL STUDY OF VOCALIZATION

该项目的长期目标是通过以下方式描述机制 哪些行为会影响大脑的结构和功能。我们的战略是 为了专注于具有已知适应功能的具有良好特征的行为- 刺激内分泌的发声行为。 这项提议是对先前发现的神经分泌的延伸 下丘脑接受发声控制中脑的轴突投射 以及边缘听觉丘脑。我们现在建议进一步推进这些措施 通过验证声学特性，表征神经化学的发现 这些通路的特性，并探索这些通路的功能作用 投射。 我们将使用逆行唤起的细胞外录音， 顺行示踪剂、逆行示踪剂和免疫组织化学双重标记 用标记法检验传入和传出的假设 我们发现的副听觉丘脑的投射 实际上是听觉反应的甲硫氨酸脑啡肽阳性通路。我们 进一步假设雌激素受体与(1)甲硫氨酸受体共定位。 中脑内形成终末的脑啡肽阳性细胞 投射到副听觉丘脑；(2)MET- 丘脑边缘脑啡肽阳性细胞群。最后，我们 将使用阿片受体激动剂和拮抗剂，卵巢切除和激素 脑啡肽和雌激素在高血压中作用的替代研究 声音信号引起内分泌变化。 拟议的研究将提供神经机制，从而使 个人的发声行为和环境声音可能会影响 个体的内分泌状态。希望这一行能够 将作为未来声学学科研究的典范 环境和健康问题。

The long term objective of this project is to delineate mechanisms by which behavior influence brain structure and function. Our strategy is to focus on a well characterized behavior with known adaptive functions - the endocrine-stimulating vocal behavior. This proposal is an extension of a previous finding that neurosecretory hypothalamus receives axonal projections from the vocal control midbrain and the marginal auditory thalamus. We now propose to further these findings by verifying acoustic properties, characterizing neurochemical properties of these pathways, and exploring the functional role of these projections. We will be using antidromically evoked extra-cellular recordings, anterograde tracers, retrograde tracers and immunohistochemical double- labeling methods to test the hypothesis that the afferent and efferent projections of the accessory auditory thalamus that we have discovered are in fact acoustic responsive, met-enkephalin positive pathways. We further postulate that estrogen receptors co-localize with (1) the met- enkephalin positive cells in the midbrain that give rise to terminal projection into the accessory auditory thalamus and (2) the met- enkephalin positive cell groups in the marginal thalamus. Finally, we will use opioid receptor agonist and antagonists, ovariectomy and hormone replacement study to explore the role of enkephalin and estrogen in the vocal signals induced endocrine changes. The proposed studies will provide the neural mechanisms whereby an individual's own vocal behavior and environmental sounds can influence the endocrine state of the individual. It is hoped that this line of work will serve as a model for future research on the subject of acoustic environment and health issues.