High Levels of New Neuron Addition Persist When the Sensitive Period for Song Learning Is Experimentally Prolonged

Wilbrecht, Linda; Williams, Heather; Gangadhar, N.; Nottebohm, Fernando

doi:10.1523/jneurosci.4869-05.2006

Cited by 35 publications

(40 citation statements)

References 53 publications

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“…Moreover, ing the plastic stage of song learning by rearing birds in isolation without an adult song model prolonged this high developmental level of new neuron addition to HVC [Wilbrecht et al, 2006]. Both results support the idea of a functional link between the availability of new neurons in the HVC-RA song motor pathway and the acquisition of new, learned, motor patterns.…”

Section: New Neurons In the Song Motor Pathway Hvc: A Role For New Nesupporting

confidence: 70%

Adult Neurogenesis in the Songbird: Region-Specific Contributions of New Neurons to Behavioral Plasticity and Stability

Pytte

2016

Brain Behav Evol

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Our understanding of the role of new neurons in learning and encoding new information has been largely based on studies of new neurons in the mammalian dentate gyrus and olfactory bulb - brain regions that may be specialized for learning. Thus the role of new neurons in regions that serve other functions has yet to be fully explored. The song system provides a model for studying new neuron function in brain regions that contribute differently to song learning, song auditory discrimination, and song motor production. These regions subserve learning as well as long-term storage of previously learned information. This review examines the differences between learning-based and activity-based retention of new neurons and explores the potential contributions of new neurons to behavioral stability in the song motor production pathway.

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Section: New Neurons In the Song Motor Pathway Hvc: A Role For New Nesupporting

confidence: 70%

Adult Neurogenesis in the Songbird: Region-Specific Contributions of New Neurons to Behavioral Plasticity and Stability

Pytte

2016

Brain Behav Evol

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“…The embryonic cDNA library used brains collected from embryos of both male and female birds at embryonic days 5-13 (hatching is on day 14). The three developmental libraries were generated by grouping total brain tissues of male zebra finches at posthatching days 1,3,5,10,20,30,40,50,60,70, and 90 (Table 1). These four libraries cover the entire period of brain development up to sexual maturity (at approximately day 90), including the period during which juvenile zebra finches learn their song.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Moreover, as the family group dissolves, the juveniles form new associations. We do not know to what extent these changes affect brain circuitry, although we do know that the brain pathways involved in song learning are growing and connecting during the very time that song learning takes place (29)(30)(31). We have also identified five miRNAs among the 3Ј EST sequences expressed during songbird brain development.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Genomic resources for songbird research and their use in characterizing gene expression during brain development

Wang

Tannenhauser

et al. 2007

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

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Vocal learning and neuronal replacement have been studied extensively in songbirds, but until recently, few molecular and genomic tools for songbird research existed. Here we describe new molecular/genomic resources developed in our laboratory. We made cDNA libraries from zebra finch (Taeniopygia guttata) brains at different developmental stages. A total of 11,000 cDNA clones from these libraries, representing 5,866 unique gene transcripts, were randomly picked and sequenced from the 3 ends. A webbased database was established for clone tracking, sequence analysis, and functional annotations. Our cDNA libraries were not normalized. Sequencing ESTs without normalization produced many developmental stage-specific sequences, yielding insights into patterns of gene expression at different stages of brain development. In particular, the cDNA library made from brains at posthatching day 30 -50, corresponding to the period of rapid song system development and song learning, has the most diverse and richest set of genes expressed. We also identified five microRNAs whose sequences are highly conserved between zebra finch and other species. We printed cDNA microarrays and profiled gene expression in the high vocal center of both adult male zebra finches and canaries (Serinus canaria). Genes differentially expressed in the high vocal center were identified from the microarray hybridization results. Selected genes were validated by in situ hybridization. Networks among the regulated genes were also identified. These resources provide songbird biologists with tools for genome annotation, comparative genomics, and microarray gene expression analysis.cDNA microarray ͉ developmental gene expression ͉ EST sequencing ͉ microRNA ͉ zebra finch T he genomes of many species, including human, mouse, chicken, Drosophila, Caenorhabditis elegans, and zebrafish, have been sequenced, with the result that genomic, computational, and microarray tools have greatly accelerated discoveries in many fields of biology. However, the availability of such resources has lagged in songbirds, even as two species, the zebra finch (Taeniopygia guttata) and the canary (Serinus canaria), have received much attention from scientists studying the biology of vocal learning and neuronal replacement in the adult brain. Songbirds have been proven to be exceedingly favorable material for studying the basic biology of these two phenomena. Here we describe our effort to develop molecular resources that can be used in such work, including the large-scale sequencing of ESTs and the printing of cDNA microarrays of genes expressed in zebra finch brains. The high vocal center (HVC) controls song learning in juveniles and song production in adult birds and is also a place where neuronal replacement occurs in adulthood (1). We used microarrays to profile genes differentially expressed in the HVC of adult male zebra finches and canaries, compared with universal total brain RNA references, and validated the microarray results by in situ hybridization.

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“…Interestingly, large numbers of neurons are replaced by new neurons during the process of song learning. Those new neurons differentiate from radial glia and migrate into the song system to replace specific types of neurons, a process that has been hypothesized (although not yet fully corroborated) to facilitate song learning (31,32). After adult neurogenesis was discovered in the songbird brain, numerous studies discovered it also in mammals [reviewed in Doetsch and Hen (33)] and in association with other behaviors-for example, spatial and social learning (34-36)-with high specificity in location and the neuronal types being replaced.…”

Section: Role Of Behavioral Quantification In Achieving Integration Amentioning

confidence: 99%

Quantification of developmental birdsong learning from the subsyllabic scale to cultural evolution

Lipkind

Tchernichovski

2011

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

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Quantitative analysis of behavior plays an important role in birdsong neuroethology, serving as a common denominator in studies spanning molecular to system-level investigation of sensory-motor conversion, developmental learning, and pattern generation in the brain. In this review, we describe the role of behavioral analysis in facilitating cross-level integration. Modern sound analysis approaches allow investigation of developmental song learning across multiple time scales. Combined with novel methods that allow experimental control of vocal changes, it is now possible to test hypotheses about mechanisms of vocal learning. Further, song analysis can be done at the population level across generations to track cultural evolution and multigenerational behavioral processes. Complementing the investigation of song development with noninvasive brain imaging technology makes it now possible to study behavioral dynamics at multiple levels side by side with developmental changes in brain connectivity and in auditory responses.B irdsong neuroethology is a small but diverse and influential subfield of neuroscience, studied in ∼100 laboratories, and covering a range of research areas spanning the molecular to the organismal levels of investigation. The quantification of singing behavior has been a common denominator across most of those studies. Over the past four decades, birdsong neuroethology has made tremendous gains by incorporating existing tools for representing and analyzing sound (1). The sonogram (Fig. 1A) (2-4) provides an excellent descriptive model of singing behavior, and over the past decade several analysis approaches were developed that allow automatic segmentation categorization and comparison of vocal sounds (5-9). In this review, we describe the role of behavioral analysis in the progress made in birdsong neuroethology research.The past 20 y or so have seen rapid progress in understanding the neural and molecular processes involved in song. However, this progress was preceded by a long tradition of quantifying singing behavior (10, 11). Birdsong is uniquely amenable and attractive for behavioral analysis for a number of reasons: adult song is a structured behavior, repeated with a high degree of stereotypy (Fig. 1A). This makes it relatively easy to detect and characterize song structure and components (e.g., notes, syllables, motifs, and phrases) to align song renditions to each other, to assess the degree of similarity between songs, and, ultimately, to relate singing behavior to neuronal events and thus elucidate underlying neural mechanisms. We start by reviewing the role of behavioral quantification in achieving integration across levels of investigation. We then present a short outline of sound analysis techniques currently used for the tracking of developmental song learning, and an experimental approach for hypothesis-driven investigation of song development. Finally, we present a generalization of behavioral analysis to the population and cross-generation levels, and propose some ideas about n...

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High Levels of New Neuron Addition Persist When the Sensitive Period for Song Learning Is Experimentally Prolonged

Cited by 35 publications

References 53 publications

Adult Neurogenesis in the Songbird: Region-Specific Contributions of New Neurons to Behavioral Plasticity and Stability

Adult Neurogenesis in the Songbird: Region-Specific Contributions of New Neurons to Behavioral Plasticity and Stability

Genomic resources for songbird research and their use in characterizing gene expression during brain development

Quantification of developmental birdsong learning from the subsyllabic scale to cultural evolution

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