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Effect of estradiol and predator cues on behavior and brain responses of captive female house sparrows (Passer domesticus)

The presence of predators can cause major changes in animal behavior, but how this interacts with hormonal state and brain activity is poorly understood. We gave female house sparrows (Passer domesticus) in post-molt condition an estradiol (n = 17) or empty implant (n = 16) for 1 week. Four weeks af...

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Autores principales: Kimball, Melanie G., Harding, Courtney T., Couvillion, Kaitlin E., Stansberry, Keegan R., Kelly, Tosha R., Lattin, Christine R.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Frontiers Media S.A. 2023
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10326312/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/37427407
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fphys.2023.1172865
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author Kimball, Melanie G.
Harding, Courtney T.
Couvillion, Kaitlin E.
Stansberry, Keegan R.
Kelly, Tosha R.
Lattin, Christine R.
author_facet Kimball, Melanie G.
Harding, Courtney T.
Couvillion, Kaitlin E.
Stansberry, Keegan R.
Kelly, Tosha R.
Lattin, Christine R.
author_sort Kimball, Melanie G.
collection PubMed
description The presence of predators can cause major changes in animal behavior, but how this interacts with hormonal state and brain activity is poorly understood. We gave female house sparrows (Passer domesticus) in post-molt condition an estradiol (n = 17) or empty implant (n = 16) for 1 week. Four weeks after implant removal, a time when female sparrows show large differences in neuronal activity to conspecific vs. heterospecific song, we exposed birds to either 30 min of conspecific song or predator calls, and video recorded their behavior. Females were then euthanized, and we examined neuronal activity using the expression of the immediate early gene (IEG) ZENK to identify how the acoustic stimuli affected neuronal activation. We predicted that if female sparrows with estradiol implants reduce neuronal activity in response to predator calls as they do to neutral tones and non-predatory heterospecifics, they would show less fear behavior and a decreased ZENK response in brain regions involved in auditory (e.g., caudomedial mesopallium) and threat perception functions (e.g., medial ventral arcopallium) compared to controls. Conversely, we predicted that if females maintain auditory and/or brain sensitivity towards predator calls, then female sparrows exposed to estradiol would not show any differences in ZENK response regardless of playback type. We found that female sparrows were less active during predator playbacks independent of hormone treatment and spent more time feeding during conspecific playback if they had previously been exposed to estradiol. We observed no effect of hormone or sound treatment on ZENK response in any region of interest. Our results suggest that female songbirds maintain vigilance towards predators even when in breeding condition.
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spelling pubmed-103263122023-07-08 Effect of estradiol and predator cues on behavior and brain responses of captive female house sparrows (Passer domesticus) Kimball, Melanie G. Harding, Courtney T. Couvillion, Kaitlin E. Stansberry, Keegan R. Kelly, Tosha R. Lattin, Christine R. Front Physiol Physiology The presence of predators can cause major changes in animal behavior, but how this interacts with hormonal state and brain activity is poorly understood. We gave female house sparrows (Passer domesticus) in post-molt condition an estradiol (n = 17) or empty implant (n = 16) for 1 week. Four weeks after implant removal, a time when female sparrows show large differences in neuronal activity to conspecific vs. heterospecific song, we exposed birds to either 30 min of conspecific song or predator calls, and video recorded their behavior. Females were then euthanized, and we examined neuronal activity using the expression of the immediate early gene (IEG) ZENK to identify how the acoustic stimuli affected neuronal activation. We predicted that if female sparrows with estradiol implants reduce neuronal activity in response to predator calls as they do to neutral tones and non-predatory heterospecifics, they would show less fear behavior and a decreased ZENK response in brain regions involved in auditory (e.g., caudomedial mesopallium) and threat perception functions (e.g., medial ventral arcopallium) compared to controls. Conversely, we predicted that if females maintain auditory and/or brain sensitivity towards predator calls, then female sparrows exposed to estradiol would not show any differences in ZENK response regardless of playback type. We found that female sparrows were less active during predator playbacks independent of hormone treatment and spent more time feeding during conspecific playback if they had previously been exposed to estradiol. We observed no effect of hormone or sound treatment on ZENK response in any region of interest. Our results suggest that female songbirds maintain vigilance towards predators even when in breeding condition. Frontiers Media S.A. 2023-06-23 /pmc/articles/PMC10326312/ /pubmed/37427407 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fphys.2023.1172865 Text en Copyright © 2023 Kimball, Harding, Couvillion, Stansberry, Kelly and Lattin. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
spellingShingle Physiology
Kimball, Melanie G.
Harding, Courtney T.
Couvillion, Kaitlin E.
Stansberry, Keegan R.
Kelly, Tosha R.
Lattin, Christine R.
Effect of estradiol and predator cues on behavior and brain responses of captive female house sparrows (Passer domesticus)
title Effect of estradiol and predator cues on behavior and brain responses of captive female house sparrows (Passer domesticus)
title_full Effect of estradiol and predator cues on behavior and brain responses of captive female house sparrows (Passer domesticus)
title_fullStr Effect of estradiol and predator cues on behavior and brain responses of captive female house sparrows (Passer domesticus)
title_full_unstemmed Effect of estradiol and predator cues on behavior and brain responses of captive female house sparrows (Passer domesticus)
title_short Effect of estradiol and predator cues on behavior and brain responses of captive female house sparrows (Passer domesticus)
title_sort effect of estradiol and predator cues on behavior and brain responses of captive female house sparrows (passer domesticus)
topic Physiology
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10326312/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/37427407
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fphys.2023.1172865
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