Regulatory mechanisms of testosterone-stimulated song in the sensorimotor nucleus HVC of female songbirds.

ABSTRACT:

Background

In male birds, influence of the sex steroid hormone testosterone and its estrogenic metabolites on seasonal song behavior has been demonstrated for many species. In contrast, female song was only recently recognized to be widespread among songbird species, and to date, sex hormone effects on singing and brain regions controlling song development and production (song control nuclei) have been studied in females almost exclusively using domesticated canaries (Serinus canaria). However, domesticated female canaries hardly sing at all in normal circumstances and exhibit only very weak, if any, song seasonally under the natural photoperiod. By contrast, adult female European robins (Erithacus rubecula) routinely sing during the winter season, a time when they defend feeding t

SUBMITTER: Dittrich F 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4261767 | biostudies-literature | 2014 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature