Vocal changes in a zebra finch model of Parkinson's disease characterized by alpha-synuclein overexpression in the song-dedicated anterior forebrain pathway.

ABSTRACT: Deterioration in the quality of a person's voice and speech is an early marker of Parkinson's disease (PD). In humans, the neural circuit that supports vocal motor control consists of a cortico-basal ganglia-thalamo-cortico loop. The basal ganglia regions, striatum and globus pallidus, in this loop play a role in modulating the acoustic features of vocal behavior such as loudness, pitch, and articulatory rate. In PD, this area is implicated in pathogenesis. In animal models of PD, the accumulation of toxic aggregates containing the neuronal protein alpha-synuclein (αsyn) in the midbrain and striatum result in limb and vocal motor impairments. It has been challenging to study vocal impairments given the lack of well-defined cortico-basal ganglia circuitry for vocalization in rodent models.

SUBMITTER: Medina CA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9067653 | biostudies-literature | 2022

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature