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[Long-term plasticity of HVC-RA synapses in adult male zebra finches.] [Article in Chinese]

LI Feng-Ling, LI Dong-Feng^*

School of Life Science, South China Normal University, Key Laboratory of Ecology and Environmental Science in Higher Education of Guangdong Province, Guangzhou 510631, China

Abstract

Long-term synaptic plasticity is considered as a key part of the neural mechanism of learning and memory. The production of learned vocalization of male zebra finches is closely related to high vocal center (HVC)-robust nucleus of the arcopallium (RA) pathway. However, the long-term plasticity of HVC-RA synapses is unclear. This study investigated the long-term plasticity of HVC-RA synapses in adult male zebra finches through in vivo field potential recording. The results showed that physiologic stimulation, i.e., δ rhythmic stimulation and low frequency stimulation could not effectively induce long-term synaptic plasticity. The former leaded to no change of the amplitudes of evoked population spikes, and the latter induced short-term depression (STD) of the amplitudes of the second evoked population spikes caused by paired pulses. But high frequency stimulation induced long-term depression (LTD) of the amplitudes of evoked population spikes to show out long-term synaptic plasticity. These results suggest that LTD represents the long-term plasticity of HVC-RA synapses in adult male zebra finches, which may be a key part of the neural mechanism of vocal learning and memory and can explain the plasticity of adult song to some degree.

Key words: male zebra finches; HVC-RA synapses; long-term synaptic plasticity

Received: 2013-07-21　　Accepted: 2013-10-10

Corresponding author: 李东风　　E-mail: dfliswx@126.com

Citing This Article：

LI Feng-Ling, LI Dong-Feng. [Long-term plasticity of HVC-RA synapses in adult male zebra finches.] [Article in Chinese]. Acta Physiol Sin 2013; 65 (6): 586-592 (in Chinese with English abstract).