Steroids Help Sparrows with Singing
by admin ~ June 7th, 2009.
Increased level of testosterone in the Gambel’s white-crowned sparrow created more neuronal connections which trigger their brains to attract their mates. In the Journal of Neuroscience, Eliot Brenowitz and his colleagues reported that this steroid increases the size of song production areas in brain of birds.
Studies showed the effect on 19 adult male white-crowned sparrows, out of which 11 were surgically deafened. After the surgery birds were observed for 7 days, all of the birds were given testosterone implants and shifted to long-day, a light condition which is a normal breeding condition, from a short day light conditions which mimic winters.
From Brightsurf:
The birds’ three song-control regions are called the HVC, RA and X. All are located in the forebrain and grow quickly and in sequence. The brains of the birds were examined after 7 and 30 days, and the volume of the song production areas did not differ between the deafened and the hearing sparrows. Even though the deafened birds sang considerably less often, there was no degradation in the structure of their songs, according to Brenowitz.
“This study suggests that playing tapes of recorded speech to try to help a person recover language after a stroke might not be productive. But perhaps we could use neutrophins, growth-inducing proteins whose synthesis by brain neurons is stimulated by testosterone. In sparrows, brain areas are directly stimulated by these hormones to grow and one day such hormones might possibly help repair brain damage caused by strokes or neurodegenerative diseases,” said Brenowitz.
The birds were examined after 7 and 30 days, the observed data showed that there was no difference in the volume of the song production areas of the deafened and the hearing sparrows. Bird’s brain has three controls- called the HVC, RA and X. All are located in the forebrain and grow quickly and in sequence.
The seasonal growth of the song production areas of the brain does not require hearing or high levels of singing as per studies concluded.
In turn, Testosterone induces the production of neutrophins which are growth-inducing proteins whose synthesis by brain neurons do help a person to recover after a stroke. Brenowitz says, “Such hormones might possibly help repair brain damage caused by strokes or neurodegenerative diseases.”
Category: Anabolic Steroids | Tags: neurodegenerative diseases, neuronal, neutrophins, testosterone