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Synelfin Regulation during the Critical Period for Song Learning in Normal and Isolated Juvenile Zebra Finches

https://doi.org/10.1006/nlme.1997.3795Get rights and content

Abstract

Male zebra finches (Taeniopygia guttata) learn to sing during a critical period in adolescence. We previously described a presynaptic protein, synelfin, whose mRNA is increased early in this critical period in a brain nucleus specifically implicated in song learning, lateral MAN (lMAN). In the current study, in situ hybridization was used to map this change in gene expression to the subregion of lMAN that projects to the robust nucleus of the archistriatum (RA), the principal motor output of the telencephalic circuit that controls song production. Using confocal immunofluorescence microscopy, we detected numerous puncta of synelfin immunoreactivity that apparently represent presynaptic terminals from lMAN in the RA of young males. Synelfin immunoreactivity in RA declined abruptly between 40 and 45 days of age, a time of major synaptic reorganization in RA. This change did not occur until about 10 days after the decline in synelfin mRNA in cell bodies within lMAN, indicating a relatively slow turnover of the protein in presynaptic terminals and suggesting that some of the functional changes that occur during the critical period may arise from regulatory decisions that were initiated a week or more earlier. Depriving birds of tutoring did not halt or delay the decline of synelfin mRNA in lMAN. This change in gene expression must not be a consequence of early song learning, but may reflect an innate or programmed step in song circuit development.

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    1

    We thank Julia George, Telsa Mittelmier, and Sandy Siepka for useful discussions and critical comments on the paper, and Susan Volman for suggestions on the isolation experiments. This work was supported by NIH Grant NS25742. Address correspondence and reprint requests to Dr. David F. Clayton, B107 Chemical and Life Sciences Lab, 601 S. Goodwin Avenue, Urbana, IL 61801. Fax: (217) 244-1648. E-mail: [email protected].

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