Wild J M, Williams M N, Suthers R A
Division of Anatomy, School of Medical and Health Sciences, University of Auckland, 92019, Auckland, New Zealand.
Brain Res. 2001 Nov 2;917(2):235-52. doi: 10.1016/s0006-8993(01)02938-9.
Parvalbumin (PV) and calbindin (CB) immunoreactivities were assessed in nucleus robustus archistriatalis (RA) of male and female zebra finches, together with retrograde labelling of RA neurons. The results of double and triple labelling experiments suggested that, in males, moderately and faintly PV-positive neurons were projection neurons, but that all intensely PV-positive cells were not. The latter, which are presumably interneurons, were also intensely CB-positive, and may correspond to the GABAergic inhibitory interneurons identified by others. In addition, the complete RA pathway and its terminal fields in the respiratory-vocal nuclei of the brainstem were strongly PV-positive. In female zebra finches, which do not sing, no evidence was found that PV-positive RA cells were projection neurons, yet the pattern of projections of RA neurons, as determined by anterograde transport of biotinylated dextran amine, was very similar to that of RA in males. Moreover, in females, RA neurons retrogradely labelled from injections of cholera toxin B-chain into the tracheosyringeal nucleus (XIIts) were abundant and included, in the lateral part of the nucleus, a population of cells that were as large as those in the male RA. Parvalbumin immunoreactivity was also present in RA and its projections in males of several other songbird species (northern cardinal, brown headed cowbird, canary) and in the female cardinal, which sings to some extent, but the labelling was not as intense as that in male zebra finches.
在雄性和雌性斑胸草雀的古纹状体粗核（RA）中评估了小白蛋白（PV）和钙结合蛋白（CB）的免疫反应性，并对RA神经元进行了逆行标记。双重和三重标记实验的结果表明，在雄性中，中等强度和微弱PV阳性的神经元是投射神经元，但所有强PV阳性细胞并非如此。后者可能是中间神经元，也强烈CB阳性，可能对应于其他人鉴定出的GABA能抑制性中间神经元。此外，完整的RA通路及其在脑干呼吸-发声核中的终末场强烈PV阳性。在不唱歌的雌性斑胸草雀中，未发现PV阳性的RA细胞是投射神经元的证据，但通过生物素化葡聚糖胺的顺行运输确定的RA神经元投射模式与雄性RA非常相似。此外，在雌性中，从向气管鸣管核（XIIts）注射霍乱毒素B链逆行标记的RA神经元很多，在核的外侧部分包括一群与雄性RA中细胞一样大的细胞。在其他几种鸣禽物种（北美红雀、褐头牛鹂、金丝雀）的雄性以及在一定程度上唱歌的雌性北美红雀的RA及其投射中也存在小白蛋白免疫反应性，但标记不如雄性斑胸草雀强烈。
