Distinct neurogenomic states in basal ganglia subregions relate differently to singing behavior in songbirds.

ABSTRACT: Both avian and mammalian basal ganglia are involved in voluntary motor control. In birds, such movements include hopping, perching and flying. Two organizational features that distinguish the songbird basal ganglia are that striatal and pallidal neurons are intermingled, and that neurons dedicated to vocal-motor function are clustered together in a dense cell group known as area X that sits within the surrounding striato-pallidum. This specification allowed us to perform molecular profiling of two striato-pallidal subregions, comparing transcriptional patterns in tissue dedicated to vocal-motor function (area X) to those in tissue that contains similar cell types but supports non-vocal behaviors: the striato-pallidum ventral to area X (VSP), our focus here. Since any behavior is likely und

SUBMITTER: Hilliard AT 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3493463 | biostudies-literature | 2012

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature