scholarly journals Breeding Conditions Induce Rapid and Sequential Growth in Adult Avian Song Control Circuits: A Model of Seasonal Plasticity in the Brain

2000 ◽  
Vol 20 (2) ◽  
pp. 854-861 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anthony D. Tramontin ◽  
Vesta N. Hartman ◽  
Eliot A. Brenowitz
Keyword(s):  
Seasonal Plasticity ◽  
Control Circuits ◽  
Song Control ◽  
Avian Song ◽  
The Brain

Estrogen contributes to seasonal plasticity of the adult avian song control system

2004 ◽  
Vol 58 (3) ◽  
pp. 413-422 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kiran K. Soma ◽  
Anthony D. Tramontin ◽  
Joy Featherstone ◽  
Eliot A. Brenowitz
Keyword(s):  
Control System ◽  
Seasonal Plasticity ◽  
Song Control System ◽  
Song Control ◽  
Avian Song

scholarly journals Contributions of Social Cues and Photoperiod to Seasonal Plasticity in the Adult Avian Song Control System

1999 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
pp. 476-483 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anthony D. Tramontin ◽  
John C. Wingfield ◽  
Eliot A. Brenowitz
Keyword(s):  
Control System ◽  
Social Cues ◽  
Seasonal Plasticity ◽  
Song Control System ◽  
Song Control ◽  
Avian Song

Seasonal changes in avian song control circuits do not cause seasonal changes in song discrimination in song sparrows

2003 ◽  
Vol 57 (2) ◽  
pp. 119-129 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brendan J. Reeves ◽  
Michael D. Beecher ◽  
Eliot A. Brenowitz
Keyword(s):  
Seasonal Changes ◽  
Song Sparrows ◽  
Song Discrimination ◽  
Control Circuits ◽  
Song Control ◽  
Avian Song

Hemispheric Coordination Is Necessary for Song Production in Adult Birds: Implications for a Dual Role for Forebrain Nuclei in Vocal Motor Control

2008 ◽  
Vol 99 (1) ◽  
pp. 373-385 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robin C. Ashmore ◽  
Mark Bourjaily ◽  
Marc F. Schmidt
Keyword(s):  
Anterior Commissure ◽  
Temporal Structure ◽  
Dual Role ◽  
Critical Feature ◽  
Motor Circuits ◽  
Output Structure ◽  
Complex Motor ◽  
Song Production ◽  
Song Control ◽  
Avian Song

Precise coordination across hemispheres is a critical feature of many complex motor circuits. In the avian song system the robust nucleus of the arcopallium (RA) plays a key role in such coordination. It is simultaneously the major output structure for the descending vocal motor pathway, and it also sends inputs to structures in the brain stem and thalamus that project bilaterally back to the forebrain. Because all birds lack a corpus callosum and the anterior commissure does not interconnect any of the song control nuclei directly, these bottom-up connections form the only pathway that can coordinate activity across hemispheres. In this study, we show that unilateral lesions of RA in adult male zebra finches ( Taeniopigia guttata) completely and permanently disrupt the bird's stereotyped song. In contrast, lesions of RA in juvenile birds do not prevent the acquisition of normal song as adults. These results highlight the importance of hemispheric interdependence once the circuit is established but show that one hemisphere is sufficient for complex vocal behavior if this interdependence is prevented during a critical period of development. The ability of birds to sing with a single RA provides the opportunity to test the effect of targeted microlesions in RA without confound of functional compensation from the contralateral RA. We show that microlesions cause significant changes in song temporal structure and implicate RA as playing a major part in the generation of song temporal patterns. These findings implicate a dual role for RA, first as part of the program generator for song and second as part of the circuit that mediates interhemispheric coordination.

scholarly journals Backward walking highlights gait asymmetries in children with cerebral palsy

2018 ◽  
Vol 119 (3) ◽  
pp. 1153-1165 ◽  
Author(s):  
Germana Cappellini ◽  
Francesca Sylos-Labini ◽  
Michael J. MacLellan ◽  
Annalisa Sacco ◽  
Daniela Morelli ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Cerebral Palsy ◽  
Muscle Activation ◽  
Pattern Generation ◽  
Comprehensive Assessment ◽  
Emg Activity ◽  
Backward Walking ◽  
Spinal Circuitry ◽  
Children With Cerebral Palsy ◽  
Control Circuits ◽  
The Brain

To investigate how early injuries to developing motor regions of the brain affect different forms of gait, we compared the spatiotemporal locomotor patterns during forward (FW) and backward (BW) walking in children with cerebral palsy (CP). Bilateral gait kinematics and EMG activity of 11 pairs of leg muscles were recorded in 14 children with CP (9 diplegic, 5 hemiplegic; 3.0–11.1 yr) and 14 typically developing (TD) children (3.3–11.8 yr). During BW, children with CP showed a significant increase of gait asymmetry in foot trajectory characteristics and limb intersegmental coordination. Furthermore, gait asymmetries, which were not evident during FW in diplegic children, became evident during BW. Factorization of the EMG signals revealed a comparable structure of the motor output during FW and BW in all groups of children, but we found differences in the basic temporal activation patterns. Overall, the results are consistent with the idea that both forms of gait share pattern generation control circuits providing similar (though reversed) kinematic patterns. However, BW requires different muscle activation timings associated with muscle modules, highlighting subtle gait asymmetries in diplegic children, and thus provides a more comprehensive assessment of gait pathology in children with CP. The findings suggest that spatiotemporal asymmetry assessments during BW might reflect an impaired state and/or descending control of the spinal locomotor circuitry and can be used for diagnostic purposes and as complementary markers of gait recovery.NEW & NOTEWORTHY Early injuries to developing motor regions of the brain affect both forward progression and other forms of gait. In particular, backward walking highlights prominent gait asymmetries in children with hemiplegia and diplegia from cerebral palsy and can give a more comprehensive assessment of gait pathology. The observed spatiotemporal asymmetry assessments may reflect both impaired supraspinal control and impaired state of the spinal circuitry.

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