Meeting Abstract
80.4 Sunday, Jan. 6 Duds and Studs: Functional and Anatomical Profiles Vasotocin and Dopamine Systems Differentiate Courting and Non-Courting Zebra Finches GOODSON, J. L.*; RINALDI, J.; GOROBET, O.; KELLY, A. M.; KEMP, C. L.; KI, D. L.; Indiana University; University of Calfornia, San Diego; University of Calfornia, San Diego; University of Calfornia, San Diego; University of Calfornia, San Diego; University of Calfornia, San Diego jlgoodso@indiana.edu
A variety of sociosexual behaviors are influenced by vasotocin/vasopressin (VT/VP) projections from the medial bed nucleus of the stria terminalis (BSTm) and by dopamine (DA) projections from the ventral tegmental area (A10 cell group) and midbrain central gray (A11). However, it remains unclear whether constitutive properties of DA and VT/VP neurons contribute to constitutive differences in behavioral phenotype. We now demonstrate that male zebra finches that exhibit a non-courting phenotype have dramatically fewer VT-immunoreactive (-ir) neurons in the BSTm than do normal (courting) males. Non-courting males also fail to show normal levels of Fos induction within VT-ir neurons following exposure to a female, although constitutive Fos expression in these neurons is equivalent to courting males. BSTm VT neurons exhibit Fos responses to a variety of positive social stimuli (i.e., those that elicit affiliation), but we here show that a non-social reinforcer induces no such response. Thus the VT neurons that differentiate courting and non-courting males are socially selective. A similar but less robust selectiveness was observed in the A11 DA neurons. No group differences were observed between courting and non-courting males in the midbrain DA populations, although the number of tyrosine hydroxylase-ir neurons in the central gray did correlate positively with the number of courtship songs given during behavioral prescreenings. These findings indicate that VT and DA cell groups both contribute to constitutive differences in behavioral phenotype.
