COMPARATIVE STUDIES OF VOCAL CONTROL

描述(改编自申请人的摘要)： 神经系统的一个基本特征是它们提供了 一种结构和功能，使动物能够适应自身的变化 环境。我们才刚刚开始了解潜在的机制，即 限制，以及自然的行为后果，如学习 大脑中发生的可塑性。鸟类大脑中的鸣叫控制系统 为解决此类基本的行为问题提供了极好的机会 神经科学。环境因素的季节变化，如光周期， 对鸟类和大多数其他动物都有深远的影响。在鸣禽季节 光周期的变化引起性腺循环浓度的变化 类固醇激素，这反过来会导致歌曲行为和 神经内分泌系统的形态和生理属性 控制歌曲。个人之间的社会线索的交换加强了 在繁殖期歌唱系统的生长。这项提案的目标是 是使用比较的方法来探索最接近的机制和 季节可塑性在鸟类鸣叫控制系统中的行为功能。 我们将确定社会的季节性增长是否会增强 歌声核团受听觉刺激的调节。我们将考察社交媒体是否 来自其他鸟类的刺激通过以下方式促进鸣叫核团的生长 增加脑内新生神经元的招募和/或存活 成鸟鸣唱系统。来检验这样的假设，即季节性的维持 长出的宋核依赖于传入核团的神经支配，我们会损伤 处于繁殖光周期的金丝雀单侧HVC核 并比较传入核团RA和X区的形态 病变的同侧和对侧。关于季节性的假设 宋氏核团的生长受雌激素代谢产物的调节 睾丸激素将通过测量宋氏细胞核的形态来测试 早期植入野生歌雀的行为和血浆激素水平 服用不同的类固醇。我们将使用操作性条件反射技术 检验一种假设，即歌曲感知的季节性变化在功能上是 与歌唱系统的季节性可塑性有关。建议的研究结果 研究将增加我们对类固醇荷尔蒙和社会的了解 对神经系统的影响，以及与可塑性的关系 成人的大脑和学习。

DESCRIPTION (Adapted From The Applicant's Abstract): A fundamental feature of nervous systems is that they provide plasticity of structure and function which allows animals to adapt to changes in their environment. We are only beginning to understand the underlying mechanisms, the limitations, and the behavioral consequences, such as learning, of naturally occurring plasticity in the brain. The song control system in the avian brain provides excellent opportunities for addressing such basic issues of behavioral neuroscience. Seasonal changes of environmental factors, such as photoperiod, have a profound effect on birds and most other animals. In songbirds seasonal changes in photoperiod elicit changes in circulating concentrations of gonadal steroid hormones, which in turn cause changes in song behavior and in morphological and physiological attributes of the neuroendocrine system that controls song. The exchange of social cues between individuals enhances the growth of the song system during the breeding season. The goal of this proposal is to use a comparative approach to explore the proximate mechanisms and behavioral functions of seasonal plasticity in the avian song control system. We will determine whether the social enhancement of the seasonal growth of the song nuclei is mediated by auditory stimuli. We will examine whether social stimulation from other birds enhances the growth of the song nuclei by increasing the recruitment and/or survival of newly generated neurons in the adult bird's song system. To test the hypothesis that maintenance of seasonally grown song nuclei depends on innervation from afferent nuclei, we will lesion nucleus HVc unilaterally in canaries that have been on breeding photoperiods for one month and compare the morphology of the afferent nuclei RA and Area X ipsilateral and contralateral to the lesion. The hypothesis that seasonal growth of the song nuclei is regulated by estrogenic metabolites of testosterone will be tested by measuring the morphology of song nuclei, song behavior, and plasma hormone levels in wild song sparrows implanted in early Fall with different steroids. We will use operant conditioning techniques to test the hypothesis that seasonal changes in song perception are functionally related to seasonal plasticity of the song system. The results of the proposed studies will increase our understanding of steroid hormonal and social influences on the nervous system, and of the relationship between plasticity in the adult brain and learning.