DeVoogd T J, Brenowitz E A, Arnold A P
Department of Psychology, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York 14853.
J Neurobiol. 1988 Apr;19(3):199-209. doi: 10.1002/neu.480190303.
Previous work on canaries and zebra finches has shown that large differences between the sexes exist in the structure of dendrites in n. robustus archistriatalis (RA), one of the principal nuclei involved in the control of song. This sex difference is associated with a general or complete absence of song in females. If dendritic morphology in RA is causally related to capacity for song, large sex differences in structure should not occur in avian species in which both sexes sing. We now report this prediction confirmed for buff-breasted wrens (Thryothorus leucotis), a species in which the members of a breeding pair sing duets with each other. Total dendritic length and number of dendritic branches in RA do not differ in this species. Dendrites from males project about 8 micron further from the cell body than dendrites from females, apparently because of longer dendritic segments near the cell body. We argue that this suggests that differential influences on the structure of RA occurred early in the lives of the wrens.
先前对金丝雀和斑胸草雀的研究表明，在古纹状体粗核（RA）中，树突结构存在显著的性别差异，RA是参与控制鸣叫的主要核团之一。这种性别差异与雌性普遍不鸣叫或完全不鸣叫有关。如果RA中的树突形态与鸣叫能力存在因果关系，那么在两性都会鸣叫的鸟类物种中，结构上的巨大性别差异就不应该出现。我们现在报告，这一预测在棕腹鹪鹩（Thryothorus leucotis）中得到了证实，在这个物种中，繁殖对中的成员会相互二重唱。在这个物种中，RA的树突总长度和树突分支数量没有差异。雄性的树突比雌性的树突从细胞体伸出约8微米，这显然是因为靠近细胞体的树突段更长。我们认为，这表明对RA结构的不同影响发生在鹪鹩生命的早期。
