Developmental auditory exposure shapes responses of catecholaminergic neurons to socially-modulated song

Developmental sensory experience is critical to the tuning of sensory systems and can shape perceptual abilities and their neural substrates. Neuromodulators, including catecholamines, contribute to sensory plasticity in both older and younger individuals and provide a mechanism for translating sensory experience into changes in brain and behavior. Less well known, however, is whether developmental sensory experience has lasting effects on the neuromodulatory neurons themselves. Here, we used female zebra finches to investigate the degree to which developmental auditory experience can have lasting effects on the density and sensory responsiveness of catecholamine-synthesizing neuron populations. We found that hearing courtship, but not non-courtship, song increased expression of the activity-dependent immediate early gene cFOS in dopamine neurons of the caudal ventral tegmental area (VTA) and this increase was dependent on whether females heard adult song during development. Developmental song exposure also affected the density of dopamine producing neurons in the rostral VTA. In contrast, song-evoked responses in noradrenergic neurons of the Locus Coeruleus were not affected by either developmental song exposure or the social context of the stimulus. These data highlight the lasting effects that developmental auditory experience can have in shaping both the density and sensory responsiveness of dopamine neuron populations.