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Delayed song learning of isolated adult zebra finches
Abstracts
411
The heart of the stomatopod crustacean Squilla oratoria contains a cardiac ganglion that consists of fifteen neurons, supplied by a pair of inhibitor and two pairs of accelerator nerves from the CNS (Ando and Kuwasawa, 2006: J.Exp. Biol., 207, 4663–4677). It is known that the heartbeat is triggered by the cardiac ganglion, located on the outer surface of the heart. Neither the anatomical studies of Alexandrowicz (1934: Q.J. Microsc. Sci. 76, 511–548) nor the functional studies of Watanabe et al.(1969: J. Gen. Physiol. 54, 212–231), have been followed by more detailed description of the cardiac ganglion on macemaker cells. The heart was stained with Methylene Blue. Some of stained preparations were fixed in ammonium molybdate-seawater solution, and dissection was continued in a Methylene Blue tapwater solution. To stain neurons intracellularly, a stump of the cut ganglionic trunk was introduced into a glass capillary filled with mixed cobaltous and nickelous ions, or fluorescent dyes. The anterior region of the cardiac ganglion showed spontaneous rhythmic bursting activity. even after the ganglion was subdivided into parts. There exists a cluster of three neurons at the anterior end of the ganglion. It is likely that the cluster contains pacemaker cells of the heart.
domestic chicks as subjects. Chicks were tested in an I-shaped maze with a pair of terminals (colored in red and blue) each equipped with an automatic feeder. The red feeder supplied a millet grain at progressively elongating intervals = 2.0 × 1.1 n sec for integer n in [0, 30], thus representing the decaying patch. The alternative blue feeder supplied the grains at a constant interval of 12 sec when the chick stayed at the red feeder, thus representing the lost opportunity. We measured the period of time in which the chick stayed at the red feeder while shuttling between these two feeders. The chicks left the decaying feeder at a critical point, which decreased when the subject experienced the lost opportunity in previous day.
doi:10.1016/j.cbpb.2006.10.032
Hironobu Sakaguchi, Dept. Physiol. and Biol. Inform., Dokkyo Med. Univ., Sch. Med., Mibu, Tochigi 321-0293, Japan
7. Photo-activated adenylyl cyclase (PAC) as a useful tool for the study of neurobiology Tatsumi Nagahama a, Takeshi Suzuki b, Shinya Yoshikawa c, Mineo Iseki b a Dept. of Biophys., ORC and Fac. of Phar. Sci., Toho Univ., Funabashi 274-8510, Japan; bPRESTO, JST/Nat. Inst. for Basic Biol., Okazaki 4448585, Japan; cDept. of Mar. Biosci., Fukui Prefectural Univ., Yoshida 9101195, Japan
In modulation of the synaptic transmission, intracellular cAMP has been known to play an important role. A photo-activated adenylyl cyclase (PAC) was isolated from Euglena, and in the present experiments we explored whether PAC can be used for this type of study. In Aplysia it has been reported that serotonergic modulation of the tail-sensory neurons in the pleural ganglia increases intracellular cAMP concentration and promotes synaptic transmission to motor neurons by changing spike shapes of the sensory neurons. When we injected cAMP into the sensory neurons, the spike amplitude temporarily decreased while the spike width temporarily increased. This effect was not induced by injection of 5′AMP, and maintained loner in the ganglia bathed in IBMX. We, therefore, used these changes as judgments of the increase in intracellular cAMP concentration. In order to explore the PAC effect, PAC or the expression gene for PAC (pNEX-cDNA) was injected into the cell body of the sensory neurons. In both cases, the spike amplitude gradually decreased and the spike width gradually increased when the blue light was applied to the neurons. These results indicate that Pac may be a useful tool for this type of study.
doi:10.1016/j.cbpb.2006.10.034
9. Delayed song learning of isolated adult zebra finches
Vocal learning in the songbird provides a good model for human speech learning. Young male zebra finches learn to imitate their tutor's song during a specific time in development, which is referred to as a sensitive period. Many behavioral studies have shown that vocal learning is affected by a song template and social factors. If a young bird is raised without a tutor's song template (father's song) and/or social contacts with other birds, including its mother and siblings, it produces an abnormal isolated song, meaning that isolation delays the sensitive period for song learning. Here, we investigated for the delayed song learning of isolated zebra finches from new tutors. Consequently, isolated birds, exposed to new tutors from day 120, developed the zebra finch species-specific song ( song syntax), similar to developmental song acquisition in young birds during the sensitive period of song learning. However, they were not able to imitate the phonology of song elements (note or syllable) from new tutors. The differences between two aspects of song organization suggest that the schedules and processes in learning of syllable phonology may be different from that of song syntax including syllable order. doi:10.1016/j.cbpb.2006.10.035
10. No abstract submitted doi:10.1016/j.cbpb.2006.10.036 ______________________________________________________________ __
doi:10.1016/j.cbpb.2006.10.033 11. Functional roles of genital organs in spermatophore formation in the male cricket 8. Chick choice for diminishing return and lost opportunity: optimal patch use model Saboro Kageyama a, Toshiya Matsushima b, aFac. Agr. Nagoya Univ. Nagoya 464-8601, Japan; bFac. Sci., Hokkaido Univ., Sapporo 060-0810, Japan
The optimal foraging theory (Charnov, 1976) predicts that animals must leave a food patch at a marginal point of time before exhausting the food available at the patch. The underlying cognitive rules could be; (1) animal leaves the patch when the interval between successive food encounters was long (diminishing return), and (2) when food is available at an alternative patch (lost opportunity). In this study, we tried to reconstruct the patch model by using
Mikihiko Kumashiro, Masaki Sakai, Grad. Sch. Nat. Sci. Tech., Okayama Univ., Okayama 700-8530, Japan
The male cricket transfers spermatoza to the female during copulation through the proteinaceoous capsule, spermatophore. The materials of the capsule, which are excreted from the various kinds of the accessory glands, are transformed into three parts: a fine sperm tube, an attachment plate and a glassy ampulla. This formation occurred to some extent in vitro in a self-organized manner, but each part had an incomplete or abnormal shape, indicating that the spermatophore materials should be processed appropriately by the respective organs of the genitalia including the ventral lobes, dorsal pouch, and some others responsible for the positional control of the genitalia. To understand the functional roles of the genital organs in shaping
411
The heart of the stomatopod crustacean Squilla oratoria contains a cardiac ganglion that consists of fifteen neurons, supplied by a pair of inhibitor and two pairs of accelerator nerves from the CNS (Ando and Kuwasawa, 2006: J.Exp. Biol., 207, 4663–4677). It is known that the heartbeat is triggered by the cardiac ganglion, located on the outer surface of the heart. Neither the anatomical studies of Alexandrowicz (1934: Q.J. Microsc. Sci. 76, 511–548) nor the functional studies of Watanabe et al.(1969: J. Gen. Physiol. 54, 212–231), have been followed by more detailed description of the cardiac ganglion on macemaker cells. The heart was stained with Methylene Blue. Some of stained preparations were fixed in ammonium molybdate-seawater solution, and dissection was continued in a Methylene Blue tapwater solution. To stain neurons intracellularly, a stump of the cut ganglionic trunk was introduced into a glass capillary filled with mixed cobaltous and nickelous ions, or fluorescent dyes. The anterior region of the cardiac ganglion showed spontaneous rhythmic bursting activity. even after the ganglion was subdivided into parts. There exists a cluster of three neurons at the anterior end of the ganglion. It is likely that the cluster contains pacemaker cells of the heart.
domestic chicks as subjects. Chicks were tested in an I-shaped maze with a pair of terminals (colored in red and blue) each equipped with an automatic feeder. The red feeder supplied a millet grain at progressively elongating intervals = 2.0 × 1.1 n sec for integer n in [0, 30], thus representing the decaying patch. The alternative blue feeder supplied the grains at a constant interval of 12 sec when the chick stayed at the red feeder, thus representing the lost opportunity. We measured the period of time in which the chick stayed at the red feeder while shuttling between these two feeders. The chicks left the decaying feeder at a critical point, which decreased when the subject experienced the lost opportunity in previous day.
doi:10.1016/j.cbpb.2006.10.032
Hironobu Sakaguchi, Dept. Physiol. and Biol. Inform., Dokkyo Med. Univ., Sch. Med., Mibu, Tochigi 321-0293, Japan
7. Photo-activated adenylyl cyclase (PAC) as a useful tool for the study of neurobiology Tatsumi Nagahama a, Takeshi Suzuki b, Shinya Yoshikawa c, Mineo Iseki b a Dept. of Biophys., ORC and Fac. of Phar. Sci., Toho Univ., Funabashi 274-8510, Japan; bPRESTO, JST/Nat. Inst. for Basic Biol., Okazaki 4448585, Japan; cDept. of Mar. Biosci., Fukui Prefectural Univ., Yoshida 9101195, Japan
In modulation of the synaptic transmission, intracellular cAMP has been known to play an important role. A photo-activated adenylyl cyclase (PAC) was isolated from Euglena, and in the present experiments we explored whether PAC can be used for this type of study. In Aplysia it has been reported that serotonergic modulation of the tail-sensory neurons in the pleural ganglia increases intracellular cAMP concentration and promotes synaptic transmission to motor neurons by changing spike shapes of the sensory neurons. When we injected cAMP into the sensory neurons, the spike amplitude temporarily decreased while the spike width temporarily increased. This effect was not induced by injection of 5′AMP, and maintained loner in the ganglia bathed in IBMX. We, therefore, used these changes as judgments of the increase in intracellular cAMP concentration. In order to explore the PAC effect, PAC or the expression gene for PAC (pNEX-cDNA) was injected into the cell body of the sensory neurons. In both cases, the spike amplitude gradually decreased and the spike width gradually increased when the blue light was applied to the neurons. These results indicate that Pac may be a useful tool for this type of study.
doi:10.1016/j.cbpb.2006.10.034
9. Delayed song learning of isolated adult zebra finches
Vocal learning in the songbird provides a good model for human speech learning. Young male zebra finches learn to imitate their tutor's song during a specific time in development, which is referred to as a sensitive period. Many behavioral studies have shown that vocal learning is affected by a song template and social factors. If a young bird is raised without a tutor's song template (father's song) and/or social contacts with other birds, including its mother and siblings, it produces an abnormal isolated song, meaning that isolation delays the sensitive period for song learning. Here, we investigated for the delayed song learning of isolated zebra finches from new tutors. Consequently, isolated birds, exposed to new tutors from day 120, developed the zebra finch species-specific song ( song syntax), similar to developmental song acquisition in young birds during the sensitive period of song learning. However, they were not able to imitate the phonology of song elements (note or syllable) from new tutors. The differences between two aspects of song organization suggest that the schedules and processes in learning of syllable phonology may be different from that of song syntax including syllable order. doi:10.1016/j.cbpb.2006.10.035
10. No abstract submitted doi:10.1016/j.cbpb.2006.10.036 ______________________________________________________________ __
doi:10.1016/j.cbpb.2006.10.033 11. Functional roles of genital organs in spermatophore formation in the male cricket 8. Chick choice for diminishing return and lost opportunity: optimal patch use model Saboro Kageyama a, Toshiya Matsushima b, aFac. Agr. Nagoya Univ. Nagoya 464-8601, Japan; bFac. Sci., Hokkaido Univ., Sapporo 060-0810, Japan
The optimal foraging theory (Charnov, 1976) predicts that animals must leave a food patch at a marginal point of time before exhausting the food available at the patch. The underlying cognitive rules could be; (1) animal leaves the patch when the interval between successive food encounters was long (diminishing return), and (2) when food is available at an alternative patch (lost opportunity). In this study, we tried to reconstruct the patch model by using
Mikihiko Kumashiro, Masaki Sakai, Grad. Sch. Nat. Sci. Tech., Okayama Univ., Okayama 700-8530, Japan
The male cricket transfers spermatoza to the female during copulation through the proteinaceoous capsule, spermatophore. The materials of the capsule, which are excreted from the various kinds of the accessory glands, are transformed into three parts: a fine sperm tube, an attachment plate and a glassy ampulla. This formation occurred to some extent in vitro in a self-organized manner, but each part had an incomplete or abnormal shape, indicating that the spermatophore materials should be processed appropriately by the respective organs of the genitalia including the ventral lobes, dorsal pouch, and some others responsible for the positional control of the genitalia. To understand the functional roles of the genital organs in shaping