Schlinger B A
Department of Physiological Science, Brain Research Institute, University of California, Los Angeles 90095-1527, USA.
J Neurobiol. 1997 Nov;33(5):619-31.
It is probably not surprising to most of us that the endocrine system plays a significant role in controlling the singing behavior of birds. We are familiar with the song of birds as a conspicuous acoustic feature of our environment during the avian breeding season. We often witness song when it is produced by birds (males) that are aggressively establishing and defending territories and that are advertising to available females. Thus, it is easy to imagine that song is likely to be stimulated by gonadal hormones. However, the ways in which gonadal sex steroids influence the various parts of the brain at various stages of the bird's life to influence song are complex and far from being completely understood. In this review, I will highlight some of the significant discoveries that have contributed to our view that the songbird brain is a significant and dynamic target of sex steroids. I will also describe what we have learned about properties of the endocrine system and the brain and how they each contribute to making androgens or estrogens available to particular parts of the songbird brain. Finally, I will describe some new research directions that may help answer some unresolved issues about hormonal effects on the songbird brain.
对我们大多数人来说，内分泌系统在控制鸟类的鸣叫行为中起着重要作用，这可能并不奇怪。在鸟类繁殖季节，我们熟悉鸟鸣声，它是我们周围环境中一个显著的声学特征。我们经常看到鸟类（雄性）在积极建立和保卫领地以及向可获得的雌性求偶时发出鸣叫。因此，很容易想象鸣叫可能受到性腺激素的刺激。然而，性腺性类固醇在鸟类生命的各个阶段影响大脑的各个部分以影响鸣叫的方式是复杂的，远未被完全理解。在这篇综述中，我将重点介绍一些重大发现，这些发现有助于我们形成这样的观点：鸣禽的大脑是性类固醇的一个重要且动态的靶标。我还将描述我们对内分泌系统和大脑的特性所了解的情况，以及它们各自如何促使雄激素或雌激素作用于鸣禽大脑的特定部位。最后，我将描述一些新的研究方向，这些方向可能有助于回答一些关于激素对鸣禽大脑影响的未解决问题。
