Steroid modulation of a rhythmic vocal pattern generator

描述（由申请人提供）：声音交流是许多脊椎动物求偶所必需的。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，这些神经回路对类固醇激素的循环水平作出反应，表现出季节和性别差异。先前的体内研究也表明，类固醇可以诱导“虚构发声”的快速变化。“这项应用将集中在位于后脑脊髓区域的硬骨鱼发声模式发生器上，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，从而在社会环境中发声。一种电生理学方法将被用来描述类固醇诱导的变化，在发声模式的内在膜特性的水平，这些确定的神经元的发展，在体外制备。本研究的中心目标是了解类固醇激素如何通过快速的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来调节用于语音通信的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.