Abstract
Male zebra finches reared in family groups were housed initially in small indoors cages with three other companions. At 4-5 months of age these birds were treated with [3H]-thymidine and then placed in large outdoors aviaries by themselves or with other zebra finches. Counts of new neurons were made 40, 60 and 150 days after the change in housing. Recruitment of new neurons in nidopallium caudale (NC) was higher than in the hippocampal complex (HC); but in both brain regions it was higher in communally housed birds than in birds housed singly, suggesting that the complexity of the social setting affects new neuron survival. In addition, the new neurons lived longer in rostral NC than in its caudal counterpart, and neuronal turnover was faster and more significant in NC than in HC. Albeit indirect, this may be the first suggestion that different parts of the brain upgrade memories at different time intervals, yielding an anatomical representation of time.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 63-74 |
| Number of pages | 12 |
| Journal | Behavioural Brain Research |
| Volume | 167 |
| Issue number | 1 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - 15 Feb 2006 |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:This research was done with support that Anat Barnea received from The Open University of Israel Research Fund and The National Institute for Psychobiology in Israel. It also was made possible by support of the US Public Health grant MH18343 to Fernando Nottebohm. We would like to thank I. Gelernter and Y. Alberton for help with statistical analysis, R. Burla for help with the figures, and R. Abu-Aklin, R. Rado and the staff of the Meyer Segals Garden for Zoological Research at Tel-Aviv University for their help. Thanks are also due to an anonymous referee for useful comments.
Keywords
- Avian brain
- Chronological representation
- Memory
- Neurogenesis
- Neuronal replacement
- Recruitment