Vagal innervation of the air sacs in a songbird, <i>Taenopygia guttata</i>

Kubke, M. Fabiana; Ross, Jacqueline M.; Wild, J. Martin

doi:10.1111/j.0021-8782.2004.00286.x

Cited by 25 publications

(18 citation statements)

References 42 publications

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“…Structures similar to neuroepithelial bodies have been described in the air sac membranes (Kubke et al, 2004), and recordings from vagal fibers indicate a response of these putative receptors during the inspiratory phase of respiration. This activity is consistent with the air injection experiment, because the injection would generate a brief inspiration-like expansion of the air sac.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 81%

Disrupting vagal feedback affects birdsong motor control

Méndez

Dall'Asén

Goller

2010

Journal of Experimental Biology

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SUMMARYCoordination of different motor systems for sound production involves the use of feedback mechanisms. Song production in oscines is a well-established animal model for studying learned vocal behavior. Whereas the online use of auditory feedback has been studied in the songbird model, very little is known about the role of other feedback mechanisms. Auditory feedback is required for the maintenance of stereotyped adult song. In addition, the use of somatosensory feedback to maintain pressure during song has been demonstrated with experimentally induced fluctuations in air sac pressure. Feedback information mediating this response is thought to be routed to the central nervous system via afferent fibers of the vagus nerve. Here, we tested the effects of unilateral vagotomy on the peripheral motor patterns of song production and the acoustic features. Unilateral vagotomy caused a variety of disruptions and alterations to the respiratory pattern of song, some of which affected the acoustic structure of vocalizations. These changes were most pronounced a few days after nerve resection and varied between individuals. In the most extreme cases, the motor gestures of respiration were so severely disrupted that individual song syllables or the song motif were atypically terminated. Acoustic changes also suggest altered use of the two sound generators and upper vocal tract filtering, indicating that the disruption of vagal feedback caused changes to the motor program of all motor systems involved in song production and modification. This evidence for the use of vagal feedback by the song system with disruption of song during the first days after nerve cut provides a contrast to the longer-term effects of auditory feedback disruption. It suggests a significant role for somatosensory feedback that differs from that of auditory feedback.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 81%

Disrupting vagal feedback affects birdsong motor control

Méndez

Dall'Asén

Goller

2010

Journal of Experimental Biology

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“…The former are slowly adapting responses to inflation of the respiratory system, insensitive to hypoxia or hypercapnia. They fire throughout inspiration, but the specific location of these receptors is unknown; indeed, they could lie anywhere in the thoracoabdominal cavity, including the air sacs (Kubke et al, 2004). Their contribution to the control of respiratory function is unclear.…”

Section: Peripheral Mechanics Of Breathing In (Song)birdsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…However, in the only published study of a respiratory muscle in birds (DeWet et al, 1971), very few muscle spindles were found in m. transversus abdominis of chickens. Neuroepithelial body-like receptors have been identified in the air sacs of zebra finches, but their adequate stimuli are unknown (Kubke et al, 2004). …”

Section: Peripheral Mechanics Of Breathing In (Song)birdsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The respiratory-vocal system of songbirds

Schmidt

Wild

2014

Progress in Brain Research

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This wide-ranging review presents an overview of the respiratory-vocal system in songbirds, which are the only other vertebrate group known to display a degree of respiratory control during song rivalling that of humans during speech; this despite the fact that the peripheral components of both the respiratory and vocal systems differ substantially in the two groups. We first provide a brief description of these peripheral components in songbirds (lungs, air sacs and respiratory muscles, vocal organ (syrinx), upper vocal tract) and then proceed to a review of the organization of central respiratory-related neurons in the spinal cord and brainstem, the latter having an organization fundamentally similar to that of the ventral respiratory group of mammals. The second half of the review describes the nature of the motor commands generated in a specialized “cortical” song control circuit and how these might engage brainstem respiratory networks to shape the temporal structure of song. We also discuss a bilaterally projecting “respiratory-thalamic” pathway that links the respiratory system to “cortical” song control nuclei. This necessary pathway for song originates in the brainstem’s primary inspiratory center and is hypothesized to play a vital role in synchronizing song motor commands both within and across hemispheres.

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“…These mechanoreceptors are most likely located in the air sac system (Kubke et al, 2004) and probably respond to volume changes, particularly during the inspiratory phase (Ballam et al, 1982;Molony, 1974). In cardinals, an increase in air sac volume by injection of small air pulses into the anterior thoracic air sac during song resulted in decreased EMG activity in the abdominal expiratory muscles (Suthers et al, 2002).…”

Section: Somatosensory Feedbackmentioning

confidence: 99%

Singing with reduced air sac volume causes uniform decrease in airflow and sound amplitude in the zebra finch

Plummer

Goller

2008

Journal of Experimental Biology

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SUMMARYSong of the zebra finch (Taeniopygia guttata) is a complex temporal sequence generated by a drastic change to the regular oscillations of the normal respiratory pattern. It is not known how respiratory functions, such as supply of air volume and gas exchange, are controlled during song. To understand the integration between respiration and song, we manipulated respiration during song by injecting inert dental medium into the air sacs. Increased respiratory rate after injections indicates that the reduction of air affected quiet respiration and that birds compensated for the reduced air volume. During song, air sac pressure, tracheal airflow and sound amplitude decreased substantially with each injection. This decrease was consistently present during each expiratory pulse of the song motif irrespective of the air volume used. Few changes to the temporal pattern of song were noted, such as the increased duration of a minibreath in one bird and the decrease in duration of a long syllable in another bird. Despite the drastic reduction in air sac pressure, airflow and sound amplitude, no increase in abdominal muscle activity was seen. This suggests that during song, birds do not compensate for the reduced physiological or acoustic parameters. Neither somatosensory nor auditory feedback mechanisms appear to effect a correction in expiratory effort to compensate for reduced air sac pressure and sound amplitude.

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Vagal innervation of the air sacs in a songbird, Taenopygia guttata

Cited by 25 publications

References 42 publications

Disrupting vagal feedback affects birdsong motor control

Disrupting vagal feedback affects birdsong motor control

The respiratory-vocal system of songbirds

Singing with reduced air sac volume causes uniform decrease in airflow and sound amplitude in the zebra finch

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