title: Male song quality modulates c-Fos expression in the auditory forebrain of the female canary.
abstract: In canaries, specific phrases of male song (sexy songs, SS) that are difficult to produce are especially attractive for females. Females exposed to SS produce more copulation displays and deposit more testosterone into their eggs than females exposed to non-sexy songs (NS). Increased expression of the immediate early genes c-Fos or zenk (a.k.a. egr-1) has been observed in the auditory forebrain of female songbirds hearing attractive songs. C-Fos immunoreactive (Fos-ir) cell numbers were quantified here in the brain of female canaries that had been collected 30min after they had been exposed for 60min to the playback of SS or NS or control white noise. Fos-ir cell numbers increased in the caudomedial mesopallium (CMM) and caudomedial nidopallium (NCM) of SS birds as compared to controls. Song playback (pooled SS and NS) also tended to increase average Fos-ir cell numbers in the mediobasal hypothalamus (MBH) but this effect did not reach full statistical significance. At the individual level, Fos expression in CMM was correlated with its expression in NCM and in MBH but also with the frequency of calls that females produced in response to the playbacks. These data thus indicate that male songs of different qualities induce a differential metabolic activation of NCM and CMM. The correlation between activation of auditory regions and of the MBH might reflect the link between auditory stimulation and changes in behavior and reproductive physiology.
authors.affiliation: University of Paris West Nanterre La Défense, Laboratory of Ethology, Cognition and Development (EA 3456), Nanterre, France.
authors.forename: Marie
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Monbureau
authors.affiliation: University of Liège, GIGA Neurosciences, Research group in Behavioral Neuroendocrinology, Liège, Belgium.
authors.forename: Jennifer M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Barker
authors.affiliation: University of Paris West Nanterre La Défense, Laboratory of Ethology, Cognition and Development (EA 3456), Nanterre, France.
authors.forename: Gérard
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Leboucher
authors.affiliation: University of Liège, GIGA Neurosciences, Research group in Behavioral Neuroendocrinology, Liège, Belgium. Electronic address: jbalthazart@ulg.ac.be.
authors.forename: Jacques
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Balthazart
mesh_terms: D000161:Acoustic Stimulation; D000818:Animals; D001307:Auditory Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D002171:Canaries / Q000502:physiology*; D002452:Cell Count; D005260:Female; D008297:Male; D016548:Prosencephalon / Q000166:cytology / Q000378:metabolism*; D016760:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-fos / Q000378:metabolism*; D011571:Psychoacoustics; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric; D014828:Vocalization, Animal / Q000502:physiology
chemical_list: D016760:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-fos
keywords: Auditory processing; Canary song; Caudomedial mesopallium; Caudomedial nidopallium; Immediate early genes
references.citation: Brain Res Mol Brain Res. 2003 Aug 19;116(1-2):147-54
references.pmid: 12941470
references.citation: J Comp Neurol. 1992 Sep 22;323(4):495-518
references.pmid: 1430319
references.citation: Anim Behav. 1998 Feb;55(2):291-7
references.pmid: 9480696
references.citation: J Neurosci Methods. 1999 Sep 15;91(1-2):31-45
references.pmid: 10522822
references.citation: J Neuroendocrinol. 1997 Mar;9(3):235-43
references.pmid: 9089475
references.citation: Behav Brain Res. 2005 Jul 1;162(1):108-15
references.pmid: 15922071
references.citation: Anim Behav. 2000 Feb;59(2):443-458
references.pmid: 10675267
references.citation: Hear Res. 2013 Nov;305:19-30
references.pmid: 23665125
references.citation: Proc Biol Sci. 2002 Dec 22;269(1509):2525-31
references.pmid: 12573066
references.citation: J Neurobiol. 2001 Jan;46(1):48-58
references.pmid: 11108615
references.citation: J Neurosci. 2009 Feb 18;29(7):2252-8
references.pmid: 19228978
references.citation: Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1992 Aug 1;89(15):6818-22
references.pmid: 1495970
references.citation: Neurobiol Learn Mem. 2000 Nov;74(3):185-216
references.pmid: 11031127
references.citation: Horm Behav. 1988 Sep;22(3):388-401
references.pmid: 3169702
references.citation: J Neurosci. 1995 Oct;15(10):6919-25
references.pmid: 7472448
references.citation: J Neurosci. 1998 Jul 15;18(14):5477-89
references.pmid: 9651228
references.citation: PLoS Biol. 2008 Mar 18;6(3):e62
references.pmid: 18351801
references.citation: Neurobiol Learn Mem. 2006 Nov;86(3):330-5
references.pmid: 16807000
references.citation: J Comp Physiol A Neuroethol Sens Neural Behav Physiol. 2003 Sep;189(9):667-74
references.pmid: 12879354
references.citation: Horm Behav. 2000 May;37(3):179-89
references.pmid: 10868481
references.citation: J Neurobiol. 2005 Sep 5;64(3):275-84
references.pmid: 15898065
references.citation: Front Neuroendocrinol. 2011 Aug;32(3):287-302
references.pmid: 21146556
references.citation: Eur J Neurosci. 2006 Mar;23(6):1523-9
references.pmid: 16553615
references.citation: Neuroreport. 1997 Feb 10;8(3):653-8
references.pmid: 9106741
references.citation: Neuroscience. 2005;131(1):13-30
references.pmid: 15680688
references.citation: Gen Comp Endocrinol. 2004 Sep 1;138(2):113-20
references.pmid: 15302260
references.citation: Science. 1976 May 7;192(4239):574-5
references.pmid: 17745657
references.citation: J Neurobiol. 1994 Apr;25(4):361-79
references.pmid: 8077963
references.citation: Endocrinology. 2007 Dec;148(12):5614-23
references.pmid: 17823268
references.citation: Dev Neurobiol. 2010 Feb;70(2):73-86
references.pmid: 19885833
references.citation: Ann N Y Acad Sci. 2004 Jun;1016:263-81
references.pmid: 15313780
references.citation: Neuroendocrinology. 1969;5(3):205-18
references.pmid: 5362399
references.citation: J Comp Neurol. 2004 May 31;473(3):377-414
references.pmid: 15116397
references.citation: J Comp Physiol A. 1995 Jan;176(1):79-89
references.pmid: 7823310
references.citation: Nature. 2008 Mar 20;452(7185):317-22
references.pmid: 18354476
references.citation: Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2000 Feb 29;97(5):2282-5
references.pmid: 10681421
references.citation: Horm Behav. 2004 Jan;45(1):64-70
references.pmid: 14733893
references.citation: J Comp Neurol. 2008 Nov 10;511(2):173-86
references.pmid: 18770869
references.citation: J Virol. 1987 Dec;61(12):4012-8
references.pmid: 3316710