The regulation of birdsong by testosterone: Multiple time-scales and multiple sites of action

[en] Sex steroid hormones act during early development to shape the circuitry upon which these same hormones act in adulthood to control behavioral responses to various stimuli. The “organizational” vs. “activational” dis- tinction was proposed to explain this temporal difference in hormone action. In both of these cases steroids were thought to act genomically over a time-scale of days to weeks. However, sex steroids can affect behavior over short (e.g., seconds or minutes) time-scales. Here, we discuss how testosterone controls birdsong via actions at different sites and over different time-scales, with an emphasis on this process in canaries (Serinus canaria). Our work shows that testosterone in the medial preoptic nucleus regulates the motivation to sing, but not aspects of song performance. Instead, different aspects of song performance are regulated by long-term actions of testos- terone in steroid-sensitive cortical-like brain regions and the syrinx, the avian vocal production organ. On the other hand, acute aromatase inhibition rapidly reduces the availability of estrogens and this reduction is cor- related with reductions in the motivation to sing and song performance. Thus, testosterone and its estrogenic metabolites regulate distinct features of birdsong depending on the site and temporal window of action. The number of brain areas expressing androgen receptors is higher in species producing learned vocalization as compared to species that produce unlearned calls. An appealing scenario is that rapid effects of steroids in specific brain regions is a derived trait secondary to the widespread genomic effects of steroids in systems where steroids coordinate morphological, physiological, and behavioral traits.

Research Center/Unit :

Giga-Neurosciences - ULiège

Disciplines :

Neurosciences & behavior

Author, co-author :

Alward, Beau

Cornil, Charlotte ; Université de Liège - ULiège > Département des sciences biomédicales et précliniques > Biologie de la différenciation sexuelle du cerveau

Balthazart, Jacques ; Université de Liège - ULiège > Département des sciences biomédicales et précliniques > Département des sciences biomédicales et précliniques

Ball, Gregory

Language :

English

Title :

The regulation of birdsong by testosterone: Multiple time-scales and multiple sites of action

Publication date :

2018

Journal title :

Hormones and Behavior

ISSN :

0018-506X

eISSN :

1095-6867

Publisher :

Elsevier, Atlanta, United States

Volume :

104

Pages :

32-40

Peer reviewed :

Peer Reviewed verified by ORBi

Available on ORBi :

since 28 June 2018

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