scholarly journals In vivo assessment of the neural substrate linked with vocal imitation accuracy

eLife ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Julie Hamaide ◽  
Kristina Lukacova ◽  
Jasmien Orije ◽  
Georgios A Keliris ◽  
Marleen Verhoye ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Brain Regions ◽  
Song Learning ◽  
Sensitive Period ◽  
Vocal Performance ◽  
Brain Areas ◽  
Communication Signals ◽  
Vocal Imitation ◽  
Structural Architecture ◽  
Song Control

Human speech and bird song are acoustically complex communication signals that are learned by imitation during a sensitive period early in life. Although the brain areas indispensable for speech and song learning are known, the neural circuits important for enhanced or reduced vocal performance remain unclear. By combining in vivo structural Magnetic Resonance Imaging with song analyses in juvenile male zebra finches during song learning and beyond, we reveal that song imitation accuracy correlates with the structural architecture of four distinct brain areas, none of which pertain to the song control system. Furthermore, the structural properties of a secondary auditory area in the left hemisphere, are capable to predict future song copying accuracy, already at the earliest stages of learning, before initiating vocal practicing. These findings appoint novel brain regions important for song learning outcome and inform that ultimate performance in part depends on factors experienced before vocal practicing.

scholarly journals Predict future learning accuracy by the structural properties of the brain, an in vivo longitudinal MRI study in songbirds

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Hamaide ◽  
K. Lukacova ◽  
M. Verhoye ◽  
A. Van der Linden
Keyword(s):  
Structural Properties ◽  
Brain Regions ◽  
Song Learning ◽  
Sensitive Period ◽  
Communication Signals ◽  
Song Control System ◽  
Structural Architecture ◽  
Song Control ◽  
Mri Study

AbstractHuman speech and bird song are acoustically complex communication signals that are learned by imitation during a sensitive period early in life. Although the neural networks indispensable for song learning are well established, it remains unclear which neural circuitries differentiate good from bad song copiers. By combining in vivo structural Magnetic Resonance Imaging with song analyses in juvenile male zebra finches during song learning and beyond, we discovered that song imitation accuracy correlates with the structural architecture of four distinct brain areas, none of which pertain to the song control system. Furthermore, the structural properties of a secondary auditory area in the left hemisphere, are capable to predict future song copying accuracy, already at the earliest stages of learning, before initiating vocal practicing. These findings appoint novel brain regions important for song learning outcome and inform that ultimate performance in part depends on factors experienced before vocal practicing.

scholarly journals Early nutritional stress impairs development of a song-control brain region in both male and female juvenile song sparrows ( Melospiza melodia ) at the onset of song learning

2006 ◽  
Vol 273 (1600) ◽  
pp. 2559-2564 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ian F MacDonald ◽  
Bethany Kempster ◽  
Liana Zanette ◽  
Scott A MacDougall-Shackleton
Keyword(s):  
Food Restriction ◽  
Rapid Development ◽  
Nutritional Stress ◽  
Brain Regions ◽  
Song Learning ◽  
Melospiza Melodia ◽  
Developmental Stress ◽  
Song Sparrows ◽  
Control Brain ◽  
Song Control

Birdsong is a sexually selected trait and is often viewed as an indicator of male quality. The developmental stress hypothesis proposes a model by which song could be an indicator; the time during early development, when birds learn complex songs and/or local variants of song, is of rapid development and nutritional stress. Birds that cope best with this stress may better learn to produce the most effective songs. The developmental stress hypothesis predicts that early food restriction should impair development of song-control brain regions at the onset of song learning. We examined the effect of food restriction on song-control brain regions in fledgling (both sexes, 23–26 days old) song sparrows ( Melospiza melodia ). Food restriction selectively reduced HVC volume in both sexes. In addition, sex differences were evident in all three song-control regions. This study lends further support to a growing body of literature documenting a variety of behavioural, physiological and neural detriments in several songbird species resulting from early developmental stress.

scholarly journals Multi-Neuromodulator Measurements across Fronto-Striatal Network Areas of the Behaving Macaque using Solid-Phase Microextraction

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Seyed-Alireza Hassani ◽  
Sofia Lendor ◽  
Ezel Boyaci ◽  
Janusz Pawliszyn ◽  
Thilo Womelsdorf
Keyword(s):  
Solid Phase Microextraction ◽  
Solid Phase ◽  
Brain Regions ◽  
Brain Areas ◽  
Brain States ◽  
High Consistency ◽  
Local Circuits ◽  
Collective Influence ◽  
Goal Directed Behavior

AbstractDifferent neuromodulators rarely act independent from each other to modify neural processes but are instead co-released, gated, or modulated. To understand this interdependence of neuromodulators and their collective influence on local circuits during different brain states, it is necessary to reliably extract local concentrations of multiple neuromodulators in vivo. Here we describe results using solid phase microextraction (SPME), a method providing sensitive, multi-neuromodulator measurements. SPME is a sampling method that is coupled with mass spectrometry to quantify collected analytes. Reliable measurements of glutamate, dopamine, acetylcholine and choline were made simultaneously within frontal cortex and striatum of two macaque monkeys (Macaca mulatta) during goal-directed behavior. We find glutamate concentrations several orders of magnitude higher than acetylcholine and dopamine in all brain regions. Dopamine was reliably detected in the striatum at tenfold higher concentrations than acetylcholine. Acetylcholine and choline concentrations were detected with high consistency across brain areas, within monkeys and between monkeys. These findings illustrate that SPME microprobes provide a versatile novel tool to characterize multiple neuromodulators across different brain areas in vivo to understand the interdependence and co-variation of neuromodulators during goal directed behavior. Such data will be important to better distinguish between different behavioral states and characterize dysfunctional brain states that may be evident in psychiatric disorders.

scholarly journals Multineuromodulator measurements across fronto-striatal network areas of the behaving macaque using solid-phase microextraction

2019 ◽  
Vol 122 (4) ◽  
pp. 1649-1660 ◽  
Author(s):  
Seyed-Alireza Hassani ◽  
Sofia Lendor ◽  
Ezel Boyaci ◽  
Janusz Pawliszyn ◽  
Thilo Womelsdorf
Keyword(s):  
Solid Phase Microextraction ◽  
Solid Phase ◽  
Brain Regions ◽  
Brain Areas ◽  
Brain States ◽  
Barrier To Entry ◽  
High Consistency ◽  
Local Circuits ◽  
Goal Directed Behavior

Different neuromodulators rarely act independent from each other to modify neural processes but are instead coreleased, gated, or modulated. To understand this interdependence of neuromodulators and their collective influence on local circuits during different brain states, it is necessary to reliably extract local concentrations of multiple neuromodulators in vivo. Here we describe results using solid-phase microextraction (SPME), a method providing sensitive, multineuromodulator measurements. SPME is a sampling method that is coupled with mass spectrometry to quantify collected analytes. Reliable measurements of glutamate, dopamine, acetylcholine, and choline were made simultaneously within frontal cortex and striatum of two macaque monkeys ( Macaca mulatta) during goal-directed behavior. We find glutamate concentrations several orders of magnitude higher than acetylcholine and dopamine in all brain regions. Dopamine was reliably detected in the striatum at tenfold higher concentrations than acetylcholine. Acetylcholine and choline concentrations were detected with high consistency across brain areas within monkeys and between monkeys. These findings illustrate that SPME microprobes provide a versatile novel tool to characterize multiple neuromodulators across different brain areas in vivo to understand the interdependence and covariation of neuromodulators during goal-directed behavior. Such data would be important to better distinguish between different behavioral states and characterize dysfunctional brain states that may be evident in psychiatric disorders. NEW & NOTEWORTHY Our paper reports a reliable and sensitive novel method for measuring the absolute concentrations of glutamate, acetylcholine, choline, dopamine, and serotonin in brain circuits in vivo. We show that this method reliably samples multiple neurochemicals in three brain areas simultaneously while nonhuman primates are engaged in goal-directed behavior. We further describe how the methodology we describe here may be used by electrophysiologists as a low-barrier-to-entry tool for measuring multiple neurochemicals.

Extensive excitatory network interactions shape temporal processing of communication signals in a model sensory system

2013 ◽  
Vol 110 (2) ◽  
pp. 456-469 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xiaofeng Ma ◽  
Tsunehiko Kohashi ◽  
Bruce A. Carlson
Keyword(s):  
Sensory Processing ◽  
Sensory System ◽  
Brain Regions ◽  
In Vivo Studies ◽  
Local Network ◽  
Single Neurons ◽  
Communication Signals ◽  
Excitatory Network

Many sensory brain regions are characterized by extensive local network interactions. However, we know relatively little about the contribution of this microcircuitry to sensory coding. Detailed analyses of neuronal microcircuitry are usually performed in vitro, whereas sensory processing is typically studied by recording from individual neurons in vivo. The electrosensory pathway of mormyrid fish provides a unique opportunity to link in vitro studies of synaptic physiology with in vivo studies of sensory processing. These fish communicate by actively varying the intervals between pulses of electricity. Within the midbrain posterior exterolateral nucleus (ELp), the temporal filtering of afferent spike trains establishes interval tuning by single neurons. We characterized pairwise neuronal connectivity among ELp neurons with dual whole cell recording in an in vitro whole brain preparation. We found a densely connected network in which single neurons influenced the responses of other neurons throughout the network. Similarly tuned neurons were more likely to share an excitatory synaptic connection than differently tuned neurons, and synaptic connections between similarly tuned neurons were stronger than connections between differently tuned neurons. We propose a general model for excitatory network interactions in which strong excitatory connections both reinforce and adjust tuning and weak excitatory connections make smaller modifications to tuning. The diversity of interval tuning observed among this population of neurons can be explained, in part, by each individual neuron receiving a different complement of local excitatory inputs.

scholarly journals Can we conjointly record direct interactions between neurons in vivo in anatomically-connected brain areas? Probabilistic analyses and further implications

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sean K. Martin ◽  
John P. Aggleton ◽  
Shane M. O’Mara
Keyword(s):  
Large Scale ◽  
Directed Graphs ◽  
Brain Regions ◽  
Anatomical Connectivity ◽  
Brain Areas ◽  
Transformation Rules ◽  
Connection Matrices ◽  
Source Transformation ◽  
Alternative Approaches

AbstractLarge-scale simultaneous in vivo recordings of neurons in multiple brain regions raises the question of the probability of recording direct interactions of neurons within, and between, multiple brain regions. In turn, identifying inter-regional communication rules between neurons during behavioural tasks might be possible, assuming conjoint activity between neurons in connected brain regions can be detected. Using the hypergeometric distribution, and employing anatomically-tractable connection mapping between regions, we derive a method to calculate the probability distribution of ‘recordable’ connections between groups of neurons. This mathematically-derived distribution is validated by Monte Carlo simulations of directed graphs representing the underlying anatomical connectivity structure. We apply this method to simulated graphs with multiple neurons, based on counts in rat brain regions, and to connection matrices from the Blue Brain model of the mouse neocortex connectome. Overall, we find low probabilities of simultaneously-recording directly interacting neurons in vivo in anatomically-connected regions with standard (tetrode-based) approaches. We suggest alternative approaches, including new recording technologies and summing neuronal activity over larger scales, offer promise for testing hypothesised interregional communication and source transformation rules.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document