title: Decreased approach behavior and nucleus accumbens immediate early gene expression in response to Parkinsonian ultrasonic vocalizations in rats.
abstract: Many individuals with Parkinson disease (PD) have difficulty producing normal speech and voice, resulting in problems with interpersonal communication and reduced quality of life. Translational animal models of communicative dysfunction have been developed to assess disease pathology. However, it is unknown whether acoustic feature changes associated with vocal production deficits in these animal models lead to compromised communication. In rodents, male ultrasonic vocalizations (USVs) have a well-established role in functional inter-sexual communication. To test whether acoustic deficits in USVs observed in a PTEN-induced putative kinase 1 (PINK1) knockout (KO) PD rat model compromise communication, we presented recordings of male PINK1 KO USVs and normal wild-type (WT) USVs to female rat listeners. We measured approached behavior and immediate early gene expression (c-Fos) in brain regions implicated in auditory processing and sexual motivation. Our results suggest that females show reduced approach in response to PINK1 KO USVs compared with WT. Moreover, females exposed to PINK1 KO USVs had lower c-Fos immunolabeling in the nucleus accumbens, a region implicated in sexual motivation. These results are the first to demonstrate that vocalization deficits in a rat PD model result in compromised communication. Thus, the PINK1 KO PD model may be valuable for assessing treatments aimed at restoring vocal communicative function.
authors: a Department of Zoology , University of Wisconsin-Madison , Madison , WI , USA.
authors: Joshua D
authors: JD
authors: Pultorak
authors: b Department of Surgery, Division of Otolaryngology , University of Wisconsin-Madison , Madison , WI , USA.
authors: Cynthia A
authors: CA
authors: Kelm-Nelson
authors: c Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders , University of Wisconsin-Madison , Madison , WI , USA.
authors: Lauren R
authors: LR
authors: Holt
authors: c Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders , University of Wisconsin-Madison , Madison , WI , USA.
authors: Katherine V
authors: KV
authors: Blue
authors: b Department of Surgery, Division of Otolaryngology , University of Wisconsin-Madison , Madison , WI , USA.|c Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders , University of Wisconsin-Madison , Madison , WI , USA.|d Neuroscience Training Program , University of Wisconsin-Madison , Madison , WI , USA.
authors: Michelle R
authors: MR
authors: Ciucci
authors: e Department of Speech and Hearing Science , University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign , Champaign , IL , USA.
authors: Aaron M
authors: AM
authors: Johnson
mesh_terms: D000161:Acoustic Stimulation; D000818:Animals; D001307:Auditory Perception / Q000235:genetics*; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D005260:Female; D008297:Male; D009714:Nucleus Accumbens / Q000378:metabolism*; D010300:Parkinson Disease / Q000235:genetics / Q000503:physiopathology*; D010988:Play and Playthings / Q000523:psychology; D011494:Protein Kinases / Q000172:deficiency / Q000235:genetics; D016760:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-fos / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D051381:Rats; D020318:Rats, Long-Evans; D055647:Rats, Transgenic; D012919:Social Behavior; D013018:Sound Spectrography; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric; D014465:Ultrasonics; D014828:Vocalization, Animal / Q000502:physiology*; D000099202:PTEN-Induced Putative Kinase
chemical_list: D011494:Protein Kinases; D016760:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-fos; D000099202:PTEN-Induced Putative Kinase
keywords: Communication; Parkinson; Playback; Rodent; USV