Centre of Biosciences, Institute of Animal Biochemistry and Genetics, Slovak Academy of Sciences , Bratislava , Slovakia.
Proc Biol Sci. 2019 Jan 30;286(1895):20182872. doi: 10.1098/rspb.2018.2872.
Neurogenesis takes part in the adult songbird brain and new neurons are integrated into the forebrain including defined areas involved in the control of song learning and production. It has been suggested that the new neurons in the song system might enable vocal variability. Here, we examined the basal levels of neurogenesis in two songbird species, zebra finch ( Taeniopygia guttata) and Bengalese finch ( Lonchura striata var. domestica), which do not learn new song elements as adults but differ in the level of song sequence variability. We found that Bengalese finches had less linear and stereotyped song sequence and a higher number of newborn cells in the neurogenic subventricular zone (SVZ) as well as the number of newly born neurons incorporated into the vocal nucleus HVC (used as a proper name) in comparison to zebra finches. Importantly, this vocal sequence variability in Bengalese finches correlated with the number of new neurons in the vocal nucleus HVC and more plastic song was associated with higher neuronal incorporation. In summary, our data support the hypothesis that newly generated neurons facilitate behavioural variability.
神经发生参与成年鸣禽的大脑，新神经元整合到前脑中，包括参与控制歌曲学习和产生的特定区域。有人提出，歌曲系统中的新神经元可能使发声具有可变性。在这里，我们检查了两种鸣禽（斑胸草雀和文鸟）的神经发生基础水平，这两种鸣禽在成年后都不会学习新的歌曲元素，但在歌曲序列可变性的水平上有所不同。我们发现，与斑胸草雀相比，文鸟的线性和刻板的歌曲序列较少，神经发生的侧脑室下区（SVZ）中的新生细胞数量以及新产生的神经元数量 incorporation 到发声核 HVC（用作专有名词）中更高。重要的是，文鸟的这种发声序列可变性与发声核 HVC 中的新神经元数量相关，更具可塑性的歌曲与更高的神经元整合相关。总之，我们的数据支持这样一种假设，即新产生的神经元促进行为变异性。
