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Abstract :
[en] One of the chief functions of birdsong is to attract and stimulate females. In canaries
(Serinus canaria), specific phrases (“A” phrases) sung by males have been identified as especially attractive for females. These phrases unite a number of characteristics that are particularly difficult to combine, including large frequency bandwidth, high repetition rate and multiple-note syllables. Females exposed to “A” phrases produce more copulation displays and deposit more testosterone into their eggs. However, the neuroendocrine pathway underlying the translation of song audition to changes in testosterone deposition in yolks is not understood. Increased expression of several immediate early genes including c-fos and zenk (also called egr-1 in mammals) in other songbird species has been observed in the auditory forebrain of females hearing attractive song, and such differential activation may represent a first step in signal processing linking auditory input to egg testosterone deposition. Female canaries in breeding condition were exposed to 60 minutes of “sexy” song with a preponderance of “A” phrases, “non-sexy” song lacking “A” phrases, or white noise. Thirty minutes after the end of song playback, brains were collected, fixed in acrolein and sectioned and stained by immunohistochemistry for quantification of the Fos protein, an indicator of neuronal activity, in several regions involved in audition and auditory processing. The endocrine condition of each female was determined by measuring ovarian and oviduct weight at the time of autopsy. In the caudomedial mesopallium (CMM), Fos expression was higher in females that had heard sexy song than those that heard non-sexy song or white noise. Expression of Fos in the caudomedial nidopallium (NCM), the nucleus spiriformis medialis (SPM), the nucleus ovoidalis (OV), and the song nucleus HVC was unaffected by song quality. Thus differential auditory processing in the CMM may be an initial stage in the assessment by a female of song information to differential testosterone deposition in the egg.