Night-vision brain area in migratory songbirds
Night-vision brain area in migratory songbirds
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DOI：
10.1073/pnas.0409575102
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发表时间：
2005-06-07
影响因子：
11.1
通讯作者：
Jarvis, ED
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
Mouritsen, H;Feenders, G;Jarvis, ED
每年两次，数以百万计的夜间迁徙鸣禽迁徙数千公里。为了找到路，他们必须处理和整合来自各种线索的时空信息，包括地球磁场和夜间星空。通过使用感觉驱动的基因表达，我们发现夜间迁徙的鸣禽拥有一组紧密的大脑区域，这些区域仅在夜视期间高度活跃。该簇（此处称为“簇 N”）位于大脑的背表面，邻近已知的视觉通路。相比之下，非候鸟的 N 簇神经元激活在夜间并没有增加，而在候鸟中，当双眼被遮盖时，N 簇的神经元激活消失。我们认为，在夜间迁徙的鸣禽中，N簇与增强夜视有关，并且它可以整合视觉介导的磁和/或星罗盘信息以进行夜间导航。因此，我们的研究结果代表了特定夜视大脑区域的解剖学和功能演示。
Twice each year, millions of night-migratory songbirds migrate thousands of kilometers. To find their way, they must process and integrate spatiotemporal information from a variety of cues including the Earth's magnetic field and the night-time starry sky. By using sensory-driven gene expression, we discovered that night-migratory songbirds possess a tight cluster of brain regions highly active only during night vision. This cluster, here named "cluster N," is located at the dorsal surface of the brain and is adjacent to a known visual pathway. In contrast, neuronal activation of cluster N was not increased in nonmigratory birds during the night, and it disappeared in migrants when both eyes were covered. We suggest that in night-migratory songbirds cluster N is involved in enhanced night vision, and that it could be integrating vision-mediated magnetic and/or star compass information for night-time navigation. Our findings thus represent an anatomical and functional demonstration of a specific night-vision brain area.