Duffy D L, Bentley G E, Ball G F
Department of Psychology, Behavioral Neuroendocrinology Group, The Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD 21218, USA.
Brain Res. 1999 Oct 9;844(1-2):78-82. doi: 10.1016/s0006-8993(99)01915-0.
Variables such as the photoperiod a bird experiences, or its sex, affect behavioral responses to song. The present experiment investigated whether song-induced expression of the immediate-early gene ZENK is also influenced by sex or photoperiod. We examined the expression of the protein product of ZENK in wild-caught male and female European starlings (Sturnus vulgaris) in different photoperiodic conditions. In the first experiment, adult reproductively active male and female starlings were presented with either conspecific male song or no song in experimental chambers. In the second experiment, conspecific male song was presented to reproductively active and reproductively inactive adult female starlings. Localization of the ZENK protein product revealed that song stimulation resulted in a significant increase in the number of ZENK immunoreactive (-ir) cells in the caudomedial neostriatum (NCM) and the caudomedial hyperstriatum ventrale (cmHV) compared with unstimulated birds. No differences in the number of ZENK-ir neurons were observed between males and females or between reproductively active and inactive females. Thus, the present data indicate that the number of cells expressing ZENK in NCM and cmHV following song playback does not vary with sex or photoperiod in starlings.
诸如鸟类所经历的光周期或其性别等变量，会影响对歌声的行为反应。本实验研究了歌声诱导的即刻早期基因ZENK的表达是否也受性别或光周期的影响。我们检测了在不同光周期条件下野生捕获的欧洲椋鸟（Sturnus vulgaris）雄性和雌性中ZENK蛋白质产物的表达。在第一个实验中，成年具有生殖活性的雄性和雌性椋鸟被置于实验室内，分别播放同种雄性歌声或不播放歌声。在第二个实验中，向具有生殖活性和不具有生殖活性的成年雌性椋鸟播放同种雄性歌声。ZENK蛋白质产物的定位显示，与未受刺激的鸟类相比，歌声刺激导致尾内侧新纹状体（NCM）和腹侧尾内侧上纹状体（cmHV）中ZENK免疫反应性（-ir）细胞数量显著增加。在雄性和雌性之间，以及具有生殖活性和不具有生殖活性的雌性之间，未观察到ZENK-ir神经元数量的差异。因此，目前的数据表明，在椋鸟中，歌声回放后NCM和cmHV中表达ZENK的细胞数量不会随性别或光周期而变化。
