Auditory synapses to song premotor neurons are gated off during vocalization in zebra finches.
Journal Article (Journal Article)
Songbirds use auditory feedback to learn and maintain their songs, but how feedback interacts with vocal motor circuitry remains unclear. A potential site for this interaction is the song premotor nucleus HVC, which receives auditory input and contains neurons (HVCX cells) that innervate an anterior forebrain pathway (AFP) important to feedback-dependent vocal plasticity. Although the singing-related output of HVCX cells is unaltered by distorted auditory feedback (DAF), deafening gradually weakens synapses on HVCX cells, raising the possibility that they integrate feedback only at subthreshold levels during singing. Using intracellular recordings in singing zebra finches, we found that DAF failed to perturb singing-related synaptic activity of HVCX cells, although many of these cells responded to auditory stimuli in non-singing states. Moreover, in vivo multiphoton imaging revealed that deafening-induced changes to HVCX synapses require intact AFP output. These findings support a model in which the AFP accesses feedback independent of HVC. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.7554/eLife.01833.001.
Full Text
Duke Authors
Cited Authors
- Hamaguchi, K; Tschida, KA; Yoon, I; Donald, BR; Mooney, R
Published Date
- February 18, 2014
Published In
Volume / Issue
- 3 /
Start / End Page
- e01833 -
PubMed ID
- 24550254
Pubmed Central ID
- PMC3927426
Electronic International Standard Serial Number (EISSN)
- 2050-084X
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)
- 10.7554/eLife.01833
Language
- eng
Conference Location
- England