Healy S D, Gwinner E, Krebs J R
Department of Psychology, University of Newcastle upon Tyne, UK.
Behav Brain Res. 1996 Nov;81(1-2):61-8. doi: 10.1016/s0166-4328(96)00044-7.
We tested the hypothesis that experience of migration from Europe to tropical Africa by Garden Warblers is associated with changes in the relative volume of the hippocampus, a brain region thought to be involved in processing spatial information, including that used in navigation. Relative hippocampal volume was larger in birds at least one year old that had migrated to and from Africa, than in naive birds approx. 3 months old. Further comparisons between groups of differing age and experience of migration suggested that both experience and age during the first year have an effect of relative hippocampal volume. The increase in relative hippocampal volume was mainly due to a decrease in the size of the telencephalon; however, the comparison between young, naive birds and older, experienced birds also suggests a possible increase in absolute hippocampal volume. The latter is associated with an increase in number and density of neurons, whilst the former is associated with an increase in density but no change in total number of neurons. In a non-migratory close relative of the garden warbler, the Sardinian warbler, older birds had a smaller telencephalon but there was no change in hippocampal volume, which supports the view that changes in the hippocampus may be associated with migratory experience, whilst changes in the telencephalon are not.
我们验证了一个假设，即花园莺从欧洲迁徙到热带非洲的经历与海马体相对体积的变化有关，海马体是大脑中一个被认为参与处理空间信息（包括导航中使用的信息）的区域。与大约3个月大的未经历迁徙的幼鸟相比，往返非洲迁徙过的至少一岁的鸟类海马体相对体积更大。对不同年龄和迁徙经历的鸟类群体进行的进一步比较表明，第一年的经历和年龄都会对海马体相对体积产生影响。海马体相对体积的增加主要是由于端脑大小的减小；然而，年轻的未经历迁徙的鸟类与年长的有迁徙经历的鸟类之间的比较也表明，海马体绝对体积可能增加。后者与神经元数量和密度的增加有关，而前者与神经元密度的增加有关，但神经元总数没有变化。在花园莺的非迁徙近亲撒丁岛莺中，年长的鸟类端脑较小，但海马体体积没有变化，这支持了海马体变化可能与迁徙经历有关，而端脑变化与之无关的观点。
