Affiliation:
1. Bio-Imaging Lab, University of Antwerp, Antwerp, Belgium
2. Laboratory of Comparative Endocrinology, Biology Department, Leuven, Belgium
Abstract
Traditionally, research unraveling seasonal neuroplasticity in songbirds has focused on the male song control system and testosterone. We longitudinally monitored the song behavior and neuroplasticity in male and female starlings during multiple photoperiods using Diffusion Tensor and Fixel-Based techniques. These exploratory data-driven whole-brain methods resulted in a population-based tractogram confirming microstructural sexual dimorphisms in the song control system. Furthermore, male brains showed hemispheric asymmetries in the pallium, whereas females had higher interhemispheric connectivity, which could not be attributed to brain size differences. Only females with large brains sing but differ from males in their song behavior by showing involvement of the hippocampus. Both sexes experienced multisensory neuroplasticity in the song control, auditory and visual system, and cerebellum, mainly during the photosensitive period. This period with low gonadal hormone levels might represent a ‘sensitive window’ during which different sensory and motor systems in the cerebrum and cerebellum can be seasonally re-shaped in both sexes.
Funder
Belgian Federal Science Policy Office
Research Foundation Flanders
Publisher
eLife Sciences Publications, Ltd
Subject
General Immunology and Microbiology,General Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology,General Medicine,General Neuroscience
Cited by
5 articles.
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