Journal
JOURNAL OF NEUROSCIENCE
Volume 24, Issue 2, Pages 488-494Publisher
SOC NEUROSCIENCE
DOI: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.4358-03.2004
Keywords
synaptic plasticity; song learning; songbird; basal ganglia; dopamine; glutamate
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Funding
- NIDCD NIH HHS [P30 DC004661, P30 DC04661] Funding Source: Medline
- NIMH NIH HHS [R01 MH066128, R01-MH56646, R01-MH0066128] Funding Source: Medline
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Vocal learning in songbirds provides an excellent model for sensorimotor learning in vertebrates, with an accessible, well-defined behavior and discrete neural substrate. The rich behavioral plasticity exhibited by songbirds, however, contrasts starkly with the scarcity of candidate cellular mechanisms. Here, we report for the first time on an activity-dependent form of synaptic plasticity in area X, a component of the song system required for song learning and song maintenance. In slice preparations of zebra finch area X, pairing of high-frequency presynaptic stimulation with postsynaptic depolarization induces Hebbian long-term potentiation (LTP) of the glutamatergic inputs to spiny neurons. This form of LTP requires activation of NMDA receptors and D1-like dopamine receptors. In addition, LTP is observed in birds as young as 47 d after hatching and also in adult birds but not in younger birds, providing evidence of developmental regulation of the onset of synaptic plasticity. These properties make this form of LTP the best known candidate mechanism for reinforcement-based vocal learning in juveniles and song maintenance in adult birds.
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