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The Journal of Neuroscience, May 18, 2005, 25(20):4952-4963; doi:10.1523/JNEUROSCI.4847-04.2005

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Behavioral/Systems/Cognitive
Selectivity of Canary HVC Neurons for the Bird's Own Song: Modulation by Photoperiodic Conditions

Catherine Del Negro, Katia Lehongre, and Jean-Marc Edeline

Laboratoire de Neurobiologie de l'Apprentissage, de la Mémoire, et de la Communication, Unité Mixte de Recherche 8620, Université Paris-Sud, 91405 Orsay, France

To what extent seasonal factors modify the neuronal functional properties within the nuclei of the avian song system remains an open question. In adult songbirds, neurons of the song premotor nucleus HVC (used as a proper name) exhibit selective responses for the bird's own song (BOS). Here we examine whether, outside the breeding season, when songs are less stereotyped, HVC neurons of male canaries still respond selectively to the BOS produced during this period. In an initial experiment, single-unit recordings (n = 114) revealed that the neuronal selectivity for the current BOS was attenuated in males exposed to a short-day photoperiod (typical of the nonbreeding season) compared with that found in males exposed to a long-day photoperiod. In long-day conditions, 35% of the cells responded to the BOS, whereas only 12% did in short-day conditions; there were four times more selective cells (d' > 1) in long-day than in short-day conditions.

To determine whether these effects were the consequence of differences in acoustic features between breeding and nonbreeding songs, neurons (n = 72) recorded in short-day conditions were tested with both a short-day BOS and a long-day BOS. A low percentage of neurons exhibited responses to short-day or to long-day BOS (11% for each song). Responses of putative interneurons (spike duration <0.4 ms) and of putative relay cells were similarly attenuated by the short-day conditions. These results strongly suggest that, in canary, rather than being a fixed property, the selectivity for the BOS moves along a continuum and peaks when the day length mimics the breeding conditions.

Key words: songbirds; in vivo recordings; seasonal plasticity; auditory selectivity; electrophysiology; HVC nucleus

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Received Aug 3, 2004; revised April 1, 2005; accepted April 8, 2005.

This article has been cited by other articles:

				J. Meitzen, I. T. Moore, K. Lent, E. A. Brenowitz, and D. J. Perkel Steroid Hormones Act Transsynaptically within the Forebrain to Regulate Neuronal Phenotype and Song Stereotypy J. Neurosci., October 31, 2007; 27(44): 12045 - 12057. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				P. M. Nealen and M. F. Schmidt Distributed and Selective Auditory Representation of Song Repertoires in the Avian Song System J Neurophysiol, December 1, 2006; 96(6): 3433 - 3447. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

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