title: Dopamine physiology in the basal ganglia of male zebra finches during social stimulation.
abstract: Accumulating evidence suggests that dopamine (DA) is involved in altering neural activity and gene expression in a zebra finch cortical-basal ganglia circuit specialized for singing, upon the shift between solitary singing and singing as a part of courtship. Our objective here was to sample changes in the extracellular concentrations of DA in Area X of adult and juvenile birds, to test the hypothesis that DA levels would change similarly during presentation of a socially salient stimulus in both age groups. We used microdialysis to sample the extracellular milieu of Area X in awake, behaving adult and juvenile male zebra finches, and analysed the dialysate using high-performance liquid chromatography coupled with electrochemical detection. The extracellular levels of DA in Area X increased significantly during both female presentation to adult males and tutor presentation to juvenile males. DA levels were not correlated with the time spent singing. We also reverse-dialysed Area X with pharmacologic agents that act either on DA systems directly or on norepinephrine, and found that all of these agents significantly increased DA levels (3- to 10-fold) in Area X. These findings suggest that changes in extracellular DA levels can be stimulated similarly by very different social contexts (courtship and interaction with tutor), and influenced potently by dopaminergic and noradrenergic drugs. These results raise the possibility that the arousal level or attentional state of the subject (rather than singing behavior) is the common feature eliciting changes in extracellular DA concentration.
authors: University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), 505 Parnassus Avenue, San Francisco, CA, 94143, USA.
authors: Eva C
authors: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-5789-1540
authors: EC
authors: Ihle
authors: University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), 505 Parnassus Avenue, San Francisco, CA, 94143, USA.
authors: Marieke
authors: M
authors: van der Hart
authors: University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), 505 Parnassus Avenue, San Francisco, CA, 94143, USA.
authors: Minke
authors: M
authors: Jongsma
authors: University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), 505 Parnassus Avenue, San Francisco, CA, 94143, USA.
authors: Larry H
authors: LH
authors: Tecott
authors: University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), 505 Parnassus Avenue, San Francisco, CA, 94143, USA.
authors: Allison J
authors: AJ
authors: Doupe
mesh_terms: D000322:Adrenergic Agonists / Q000494:pharmacology; D000367:Age Factors; D000661:Amphetamine / Q000494:pharmacology; D000818:Animals; D001418:Baclofen / Q000494:pharmacology; D001479:Basal Ganglia / Q000187:drug effects / Q000378:metabolism*; D002851:Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid; D003380:Courtship; D004298:Dopamine / Q000378:metabolism*; D015259:Dopamine Agents / Q000494:pharmacology; D004563:Electrochemistry; D046369:Finches / Q000502:physiology*; D058786:GABA-B Receptor Agonists / Q000494:pharmacology; D008297:Male; D017551:Microdialysis; D012919:Social Behavior; D014828:Vocalization, Animal / Q000502:physiology; D014851:Wakefulness
chemical_list: D000322:Adrenergic Agonists; D015259:Dopamine Agents; D058786:GABA-B Receptor Agonists; D000661:Amphetamine; D001418:Baclofen; D004298:Dopamine
keywords: behavior; juvenile; microdialysis; monoamine; striatum