Accelerated redevelopment of vocal skills is preceded by lasting reorganization of the song motor circuitry

eLife

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[1] Behavioural Ecology Group, Department of Systematic Zoology and Ecology, Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest, Hungary;Bio Imaging Lab, University of Antwerp, Antwerp, Belgium;Department of Behavioural Neurobiology, Max Planck Institute for Ornithology, Seewiesen, Germany;Department of Behavioural Neurobiology, Max Planck Institute for Ornithology, Seewiesen, Germany;Bio Imaging Lab, University of Antwerp, Antwerp, Belgium;Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, University of Southern Denmark, Odense, Denmark;Program for Inflammatory and Cardiovascular Disorders, Institut Hospital del Mar d’Investigacions Mèdiques, Barcelona, Spain;

关键词: skill re-acquisition;    birdsong;    savings;    brain development;    dendritic spines;    canary;    Other;   

DOI  :  10.7554/eLife.43194

来源: publisher

【 摘 要 】

10.7554/eLife.43194.001Complex motor skills take considerable time and practice to learn. Without continued practice the level of skill performance quickly degrades, posing a problem for the timely utilization of skilled motor behaviors. Here we quantified the recurring development of vocal motor skills and the accompanying changes in synaptic connectivity in the brain of a songbird, while manipulating skill performance by consecutively administrating and withdrawing testosterone. We demonstrate that a songbird with prior singing experience can significantly accelerate the re-acquisition of vocal performance. We further demonstrate that an increase in vocal performance is accompanied by a pronounced synaptic pruning in the forebrain vocal motor area HVC, a reduction that is not reversed when birds stop singing. These results provide evidence that lasting synaptic changes in the motor circuitry are associated with the savings of motor skills, enabling a rapid recovery of motor performance under environmental time constraints.

【 授权许可】

CC BY