title: Song-related dopamine receptor regulation in Area X of zebra finch male.
abstract: Song learning and production have many parallels with speech and the mechanisms of their control have been studied extensively. There is an increasing amount of evidence that the dopaminergic system is involved in song learning and maintenance. Dopamine receptors show distinct expression in most of the song nuclei and the highest levels in Area X of the striatum. Here we have investigated whether the mRNA expressions for D1A, D1B, and D2 receptors in Area X are associated with quantitative and/or qualitative characteristics of zebra finch song. We found that quantitative parameters of song such as the amount of songs sang, motif duration, and numbers of distinct syllables and/or notes per motif did not correlate with expression of D1A, D1B nor D2 receptors in Area X or surrounding striatum. However, the mean accuracy of the song correlated negatively with D1A receptor expression levels and the sequential match correlated positively with D2 receptor expression levels in Area X relative to the surrounding striatum. These data suggest that dopamine receptor densities in Area X are associated with song variability.
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Neurobiology and Physiology of Behaviour, Institute of Animal Biochemistry and Genetics, Slovak Academy of Sciences, Ivanka pri Dunaji, Slovak Republic. Eva.Bosikova@savba.sk
authors.forename: Eva
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Bosíková
authors.forename: Ľubor
authors.initials: Ľ
authors.lastname: Košťál
authors.forename: Martina
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Cviková
authors.forename: Boris
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Bilčík
authors.forename: Ľubica
authors.initials: Ľ
authors.lastname: Niederová-Kubíková
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001921:Brain / Q000502:physiology*; D004298:Dopamine / Q000378:metabolism*; D046369:Finches / Q000502:physiology*; D007858:Learning / Q000502:physiology*; D008297:Male; D011954:Receptors, Dopamine / Q000378:metabolism*; D063346:Singing; D014018:Tissue Distribution
chemical_list: D011954:Receptors, Dopamine; D004298:Dopamine