Plastic and Stable Electrophysiological Properties of Adult Avian Forebrain Song-Control Neurons across Changing Breeding Conditions

被引:56
作者
Meitzen, John [1 ]
Weaver, Adam L. [2 ]
Brenowitz, Eliot A. [3 ,4 ]
Perkel, David J. [2 ,3 ]
机构
[1] Univ Washington, Program Neurobiol & Behav, Seattle, WA 98195 USA
[2] Univ Washington, Dept Otolaryngol, Seattle, WA 98195 USA
[3] Univ Washington, Dept Biol, Seattle, WA 98195 USA
[4] Univ Washington, Dept Psychol, Seattle, WA 98195 USA
基金
美国国家科学基金会; 美国国家卫生研究院;
关键词
ZEBRA FINCH SONG; SEASONAL-LIKE GROWTH; CENTRAL PATTERN GENERATORS; WHITE-CROWNED SPARROWS; IDENTIFIED HVC NEURONS; NUCLEUS IN-VITRO; CONTROL-SYSTEM; VOCAL CONTROL; STEROID-HORMONES; CONTROL-CIRCUITS;
D O I
10.1523/JNEUROSCI.5571-08.2009
中图分类号
Q189 [神经科学];
学科分类号
071006 ;
摘要
Steroid sex hormones drive changes in the nervous system and behavior in many animal taxa, but integrating the former with the latter remains challenging. One useful model system for meeting this challenge is seasonally breeding songbirds. In these species, plasma testosterone levels rise and fall across the seasons, altering song behavior and causing dramatic growth and regression of the song-control system, a discrete set of nuclei that control song behavior. Whereas the cellular mechanisms underlying changes in nucleus volume have been studied as a model for neural growth and degeneration, it is unknown whether these changes in neural structure are accompanied by changes in electrophysiological properties other than spontaneous firing rate. Here we test the hypothesis that passive and active neuronal properties in the forebrain song-control nuclei HVC and RA change across breeding conditions. We exposed adult male Gambel's white-crowned sparrows to either short-day photoperiod or long-day photoperiod and systemic testosterone to simulate nonbreeding and breeding conditions, respectively. We made whole-cell recordings from RA and HVC neurons in acute brain slices. We found that RA projection neuron membrane time constant, capacitance, and evoked and spontaneous firing rates were all increased in the breeding condition; the measured electrophysiological properties of HVC interneurons and projection neurons were stable across breeding conditions. This combination of plastic and stable intrinsic properties could directly impact the song-control system's motor control across seasons, underlying changes in song stereotypy. These results provide a valuable framework for integrating how steroid hormones modulate cellular physiology to change behavior.
引用
收藏
页码:6558 / 6567
页数:10
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