Role of the midbrain dopaminergic system in modulation of vocal brain activation by social context.
Abstract
In a well-studied model of social behaviour, male zebra finches sing directed song
to court females and undirected song, used possibly for practice or advertisement.
Although the two song types are similar, the level of neural activity and expression
of the immediate early gene egr-1 are higher during undirected than during directed
singing in the lateral part of the basal ganglia song nucleus AreaX (LAreaX) and its
efferent pallial song nuclei lateral magnocellular nucleus of the anterior nidopallium
(LMAN) and the robust nucleus of the arcopallium (RA). As social interactions are
dependent on brain motivation systems, here we test the hypothesis that the midbrain
ventral tegmental area-substantia nigra pars compacta (VTA-SNc) complex, which provides
a strong dopaminergic input to LAreaX, is a source of this modulation. Using egr-1
expression, we show that GABAergic interneurons in VTA-SNc are more active during
directed courtship singing than during undirected singing. We also found that unilateral
removal of VTA-SNc input reduced singing-dependent gene expression in ipsilateral
LAreaX during both social contexts but it did not eliminate social context differences
in LAreaX. In contrast, such lesions reduced and eliminated the social context differences
in efferent nuclei LMAN and RA, respectively. These results suggest that VTA-SNc is
not solely responsible for the social context gene regulation in LAreaX, but that
VTA-SNc input to LAreaX enhances the singing-regulated gene expression in this nucleus
and, either through LAreaX or through direct projections to LMAN and RA, VTA-SNc is
necessary for context-dependent gene regulation in these efferent nuclei.
Type
Journal articleSubject
Adrenergic AgentsAnimals
Behavior, Animal
Dopamine
Early Growth Response Protein 1
Finches
Functional Laterality
Gene Expression Regulation
High Vocal Center
Immunohistochemistry
In Situ Hybridization
Male
Mesencephalon
Neural Pathways
Neurons
Oxidopamine
Social Behavior
Tyrosine 3-Monooxygenase
Vocalization, Animal
gamma-Aminobutyric Acid
Permalink
https://hdl.handle.net/10161/11263Published Version (Please cite this version)
10.1111/j.1460-9568.2007.05600.xPublication Info
Hara, Erina; Kubikova, Lubica; Hessler, Neal A; & Jarvis, Erich D (2007). Role of the midbrain dopaminergic system in modulation of vocal brain activation by
social context. Eur J Neurosci, 25(11). pp. 3406-3416. 10.1111/j.1460-9568.2007.05600.x. Retrieved from https://hdl.handle.net/10161/11263.This is constructed from limited available data and may be imprecise. To cite this
article, please review & use the official citation provided by the journal.
Collections
More Info
Show full item recordScholars@Duke
Erich David Jarvis
Adjunct Professor in the Deptartment of Neurobiology
Dr. Jarvis' laboratory studies the neurobiology of vocal communication. Emphasis is
placed on the molecular pathways involved in the perception and production of learned
vocalizations. They use an integrative approach that combines behavioral, anatomical,
electrophysiological and molecular biological techniques. The main animal model used
is songbirds, one of the few vertebrate groups that evolved the ability to learn vocalizations.
The generality of the discoveries is tested in other vocal lear

Articles written by Duke faculty are made available through the campus open access policy. For more information see: Duke Open Access Policy
Rights for Collection: Scholarly Articles
Works are deposited here by their authors, and represent their research and opinions, not that of Duke University. Some materials and descriptions may include offensive content. More info