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A central pacemaker that underlies the production of seasonal and sexually dimorphic social signals: functional aspects revealed by glutamate stimulation

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Abstract

The cyclic enrichment of behavioral repertoires is a common event in seasonal breeders. Breeding males Brachyhypopomus gauderio produce electric organ discharge (EOD) rate modulations called chirps while females respond with interruptions. The electromotor system is commanded by a pacemaker nucleus (PN) which sets the basal rate and produces the rate modulations. We focused on identifying functional, seasonal and sexual differences in this nucleus in correlation to these differences in behavior. The in vivo response to glutamate injection in the PN was seasonal, sexually dimorphic and site specific. Non-breeding adults and breeding females injected in dorsal and ventral sites generated EOD rate increases and interruptions, respectively. Reproductive males added a conspicuous communication signal to this repertoire. They chirped repetitively when we injected glutamate in a very restricted area of the ventral–rostral nucleus, surprisingly one with a low number of relay cell somata. This study shows that the PN is functionally organized in regions in a caudal–rostral axis, besides the previously documented dorsal–ventral division. Functional regions are revealed by seasonal changes that annually provide this nucleus with the cellular mechanisms that allow the bursting activity underlying chirp production, only in males.

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Abbreviations

EOD:

Electric organ discharge

PN:

Pacemaker nucleus

CP/PPNc:

Diencepahlic pre-pacemaker chirp region

CP/PPNi:

Diencepahlic pre-pacemaker inhibitory region

CP/PPNg:

Diencepahlic pre-pacemaker gradual rises region

sPPN:

Sublemnical pre-pacemaker

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Acknowledgments

We wish to thank Kent Dunlap and Phil Stoddard for their generous revision and suggestions to our manuscript. Special thanks to Catherine Carr for her thoughtful comments. We are very grateful to Rossana Perrone who very kindly performed the behavioral experiments and participated in all field trips. This research was financed by PDT 043 and PEDECIBA. All procedures were done in accordance with the guidelines of the local ethical committee (Comisión Honoraria de Experimentación Animal, CHEA, and Universidad de la República, Uruguay).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Departamento de Neurofisiología, Instituto de Investigaciones Biológicas Clemente Estable, Avda Italia 3318, 11600, Montevideo, Uruguay

    Laura Quintana, Felipe Sierra & Omar Macadar

  2. Neurofisiología, IIBCE, Facultad de Ciencias, Aiguá 4225, 11400, Montevideo, Uruguay

    Felipe Sierra

  3. Unidad Bases Neurales de la Conducta, Instituto de Investigaciones Biológicas Clemente Estable, Avda Italia 3318, 11600, Montevideo, Uruguay

    Ana Silva

  4. Laboratorio de Neurociencias, Facultad de Ciencias, Aiguá 4225, 11400, Montevideo, Uruguay

    Ana Silva

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  1. Laura Quintana
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  4. Omar Macadar
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Correspondence to Laura Quintana.

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Quintana, L., Sierra, F., Silva, A. et al. A central pacemaker that underlies the production of seasonal and sexually dimorphic social signals: functional aspects revealed by glutamate stimulation. J Comp Physiol A 197, 211–225 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00359-010-0603-8

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