Noradrenergic Modulation of Activity in a Vocal Control Nucleus In Vitro

Solis, Michele M.; Perkel, David J.

doi:10.1152/jn.00836.2005

Cited by 33 publications

(39 citation statements)

References 66 publications

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“…Recording methods have been described previously (Park et al, 2005;Solis and Perkel, 2006;Meitzen et al, 2007). We allowed the slices to rest for 1 h after collection before recording.…”

Section: Electrophysiologymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…For recording, a slice was submerged in a small chamber perfused with ACSF maintained at 30°C and containing 150 M picrotoxin (Sigma) to block inhibitory GABA A receptors. Glutamate receptor antagonists do not affect spontaneous firing rate in RA (Park et al, 2005;Solis and Perkel, 2006). Singleunit extracellular recordings were obtained from neurons within a region that could be reliably identified as RA using transillumination.…”

Section: Electrophysiologymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Data analysis methods have been described previously (Park et al, 2005;Solis and Perkel, 2006;Meitzen et al, 2007). Briefly, spontaneous spike trains were analyzed off-line using a custom written program in IGOR (Wavemetrics, Lake Oswego, OR) by Michele M. Solis and David J. Perkel, and with pClamp9 (Molecular Devices).…”

Section: Electrophysiologymentioning

confidence: 99%

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Steroid Hormones Act Transsynaptically within the Forebrain to Regulate Neuronal Phenotype and Song Stereotypy

Meitzen¹,

Moore²,

Lent³

et al. 2007

J. Neurosci.

101

164

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Steroid sex hormones induce dramatic seasonal changes in reproductive related behaviors and their underlying neural substrates in seasonally breeding vertebrates. For example, in adult white-crowned sparrows, increased Spring photoperiod raises circulating testosterone, causing morphological and electrophysiological changes in song-control nuclei, which modify song behavior for the breeding season. We investigated how photoperiod and steroid hormones induce these changes in morphology, electrophysiology, and behavior. Neurons in a song premotor nucleus, the robust nucleus of the arcopallium (RA), show increased intrinsic spontaneous firing rate and soma size when birds are in breeding condition. Using combinations of systemic and unilateral local intracerebral hormonal manipulations, we show that long-day photoperiod accelerates the effects of systemic testosterone on RA neurons via the estradiol-synthesizing enzyme aromatase (CYP19A1); these changes require inputs from the afferent song control nucleus HVC (used as a proper name) and steroid receptor activation within HVC; local coactivation of androgen and estrogen receptors (ARs and ERs, respectively) within HVC, but not RA, is sufficient to cause neuronal changes in RA; activation of ARs in RA is also permissive. Using bilateral local intracerebral hormone-receptor blockade, we found that ARs and ERs in the song-control nucleus HVC mediate systemic testosterone-induced changes in song stereotypy but not rate. This novel transsynaptic effect of gonadal steroids on activity and morphology of RA neurons is part of a concerted change in key premotor nuclei, enabling stereotyped song.

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“…Recording methods have been described previously (Park et al, 2005;Solis and Perkel, 2006;Meitzen et al, 2007). We allowed the slices to rest for 1 h after collection before recording.…”

Section: Electrophysiologymentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Electrophysiologymentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Steroid Hormones Act Transsynaptically within the Forebrain to Regulate Neuronal Phenotype and Song Stereotypy

Meitzen¹,

Moore²,

Lent³

et al. 2007

J. Neurosci.

101

164

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“…Juvenile song is highly variable; an excess of intrinsic connections in RA could participate in creating this variability by providing many alternative paths for descending motor signals to travel before they reach brainstem motor nuclei. LTD induction occurs at a relatively low rate of collateral synaptic stimulation (5 Hz), which falls within the range of the intrinsic activity of RA neurons in vitro (1-16 Hz) (25,26) and in vivo (4-10 Hz) (27). However, HFS (100 Hz), reverses the change in synaptic strength induced by LTD.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 91%

“…Given the large number of intrinsic excitatory synapses in RA (16) and the spontaneous activity of RA projection neurons in vitro (25,26), the following steps were taken to ensure that the EPSCs studied were monosynaptic: (i) the Ca and Mg concentration of the bath solution was each raised to 4 mM to reduce excitability; (ii) recordings with EPSC onset (measured as the point where the EPSC rose above noise) latencies that varied greater than 0.4 ms (total range) at −70 mV were excluded; (iii) EPSCs that did not rise smoothly to peak were excluded; and (iv) EPSCs with variations in amplitude exceeding 50% between consecutive traces (not including failures) during the baseline period were excluded.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Premotor synaptic plasticity limited to the critical period for song learning

Sizemore

Perkel

2011

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

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Synaptic plasticity has been hypothesized to underlie learning and memory. Understanding of how such plasticity might produce motor learning is limited, in part because of the paucity of model systems with a tractable learned behavior under control of a discrete neural circuit. Songbirds possess both of these traits, thereby providing an excellent model for studying vertebrate motor learning. We report unique evidence of long-term depression (LTD) in the juvenile songbird premotor robust nucleus of the arcopallium (RA). LTD induction at RA recurrent collateral synapses requires NMDA receptors, postsynaptic depolarization, and postsynaptic calcium, and can be reversed by high-frequency stimulation. In adult birds, which have exited the critical period for sensorimotor learning and cannot modify their song, we were no longer able to induce LTD at RA collateral synapses. Furthermore, testosterone-induced premature maturation of song in juveniles abolishes LTD. LTD in nucleus RA therefore makes an excellent candidate mechanism to mediate song learning during development and is well-suited to provide insight into other forms of vertebrate motor learning.L ong-lasting changes in synaptic strength, such as long-term potentiation (LTP) and long-term depression (LTD), have emerged as leading cellular models for the modification of neural circuitry during learning (1). In particular, associative learning induces LTP in the hippocampus (2). Skill learning can increase extracellular field potentials and partially occlude LTP at cortico-cortical synapses in the motor cortex (3), suggesting a similar role for cortical synaptic plasticity in motor learning. However, whether cortical synaptic plasticity underlies motor learning remains unclear, partly because of the distributed nature of cortical motor control and because of the paucity of behavioral paradigms controlled by sufficiently discrete cortical regions.Songbirds provide a highly advantageous model for studying the neural substrate of motor learning. Juvenile birds learn their songs during a critical period by first listening to an adult male tutor (sensory phase) and then practicing, and listening to themselves (sensorimotor phase), until they produce a stereotyped copy of the tutor's vocalization (4) (Fig. 1A). Early vocalizations are highly variable; after thousands of repetitions, however, the song is modified to match the tutor's song and becomes highly stereotyped, or "crystallized" (5).A discrete set of brain nuclei mediates song learning and production (6) (Fig. 1B). This song system can be divided into two functional pathways: the direct motor pathway, which is necessary for song production, and the anterior forebrain pathway (AFP), a cortical-basal ganglia pathway necessary for song learning and some forms of adult song plasticity, but not for the production of learned song (7-11). The premotor robust nucleus of the arcopallium (RA) occupies a crucial position in the song system as the final telencephalic nucleus in the direct motor pathway and the only motor...

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Inhibitory and modulatory inputs to the vocal central pattern generator of a teleost fish

Rosner

Rohmann

Bass

et al. 2018

J of Comparative Neurology

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Vocalization is a behavioral feature that is shared among multiple vertebrate lineages, including fish. The temporal patterning of vocal communication signals is set, in part, by central pattern generators (CPGs). Toadfishes are well‐established models for CPG coding of vocalization at the hindbrain level. The vocal CPG comprises three topographically separate nuclei: pre‐pacemaker, pacemaker, motor. While the connectivity between these nuclei is well understood, their neurochemical profile remains largely unexplored. The highly vocal Gulf toadfish, Opsanus beta, has been the subject of previous behavioral, neuroanatomical and neurophysiological studies. Combining transneuronal neurobiotin‐labeling with immunohistochemistry, we map the distribution of inhibitory neurotransmitters and neuromodulators along with gap junctions in the vocal CPG of this species. Dense GABAergic and glycinergic label is found throughout the CPG, with labeled somata immediately adjacent to or within CPG nuclei, including a distinct subset of pacemaker neurons co‐labeled with neurobiotin and glycine. Neurobiotin‐labeled motor and pacemaker neurons are densely co‐labeled with the gap junction protein connexin 35/36, supporting the hypothesis that transneuronal neurobiotin‐labeling occurs, at least in part, via gap junction coupling. Serotonergic and catecholaminergic label is also robust within the entire vocal CPG, with additional cholinergic label in pacemaker and prepacemaker nuclei. Likely sources of these putative modulatory inputs are neurons within or immediately adjacent to vocal CPG neurons. Together with prior neurophysiological investigations, the results reveal potential mechanisms for generating multiple classes of social context‐dependent vocalizations with widely divergent temporal and spectral properties.

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Noradrenergic Modulation of Activity in a Vocal Control Nucleus In Vitro

Cited by 33 publications

References 66 publications

Steroid Hormones Act Transsynaptically within the Forebrain to Regulate Neuronal Phenotype and Song Stereotypy

Steroid Hormones Act Transsynaptically within the Forebrain to Regulate Neuronal Phenotype and Song Stereotypy

Premotor synaptic plasticity limited to the critical period for song learning

Inhibitory and modulatory inputs to the vocal central pattern generator of a teleost fish

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