Steroid modulation of a rhythmic vocal pattern generator

描述（由申请人提供）：在许多脊椎动物中，声音交流对于求爱是必不可少的。对硬骨鱼的研究提供了相当多的证据，表明发声是由不同的神经回路控制的，这些神经回路对循环中的类固醇激素水平的反应显示出季节性和性别差异。先前的体内研究也表明，类固醇可以诱导“有效发声”的快速变化。本应用程序将重点关注位于后脑-脊髓区域的硬骨鱼发声模式发生器，因为它提供了最简单的脊椎动物准备，以确定类固醇激素如何调节起搏器和运动神经元的特性，从而在社会环境中导致发声。电生理学方法将用于描述类固醇诱导的声音模式的变化，在这些已识别的神经元的内在膜特性的水平上与体外制备的发展。本研究的中心目标是了解类固醇激素如何通过快速、非基因组机制和核激素受体介导的长效机制，介导神经元膜特性的变化，从而调节声音交流中高度定型声音的产生。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Vocal communication is essential for courtship among many vertebrates. Studies in teleost fish provide considerable evidence that vocalizations are controlled by distinct neural circuits which show seasonal and sex differences in response to circulating levels of steroid hormones. Prior in vivo work has also shown that steroids can induce rapid changes in 'fictive vocalization.' This application will focus on the teleost vocal pattern generator located in the hindbrain-spinal region since it provides the simplest vertebrate preparation for determining how steroid hormones modulate the properties of pacemaker and motor neurons that lead to vocalization within a social context. An electrophysiological approach will be used to describe steroid-induced changes in vocal patterning at the level of intrinsic membrane properties of these identified neurons with the development of an in vitro preparation. The central goal of this research is to understand how steroid hormones modulate the production of highly stereotyped sounds for vocal communication by mediating changes in neuronal membrane properties via both rapid, non-genomic mechanisms and longer acting mechanisms mediated by nuclear hormone receptors.