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Warren MR, Young LJ, Liu RC. Vocal recognition of partners by female prairie voles. BIORXIV : THE PREPRINT SERVER FOR BIOLOGY 2024:2024.07.24.604991. [PMID: 39091789 PMCID: PMC11291111 DOI: 10.1101/2024.07.24.604991] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 08/04/2024]
Abstract
Recognizing conspecifics is vitally important for differentiating kin, mates, offspring and social threats. 1 Although often reliant upon chemical or visual cues, individual recognition across the animal kingdom is also facilitated by unique acoustic signatures in vocalizations. 2-4 However, amongst the large Muroidea superfamily of rodents that encompasses laboratory species amenable to neurobiological studies, there is scant behavioral evidence for individual vocal recognition despite individual acoustic variation. 5-10 Playback studies have found evidence for coarse communicative functions like mate attraction and territorial defense, but limited finer ability to discriminate known individuals' vocalizations. 11-17 Such a capacity would be adaptive for species that form lifelong pair bonds requiring partner identification across timescales, distances and sensory modalities, so to improve the chance of finding individual vocal recognition in a Muroid rodent, we investigated vocal communication in the prairie vole ( Microtus ochrogaster ) - one of the few socially monogamous mammals. 18 We found that the ultrasonic vocalizations of adult prairie voles can communicate individual identity. Even though the vocalizations of individual males change after cohabitating with a female to form a bond, acoustic variation across individuals is greater than within an individual so that vocalizations of different males in a common context are identifiable above chance. Critically, females behaviorally discriminate their partner's vocalizations over a stranger's, even if emitted to another stimulus female. These results establish the acoustic and behavioral foundation for individual vocal recognition in prairie voles, where neurobiological tools 19-22 enable future studies revealing its causal neural mechanisms. Highlights Muroid rodents can display individual vocal recognitionAdult prairie vole USVs are more variable across individuals than social experienceIndividual vole identity can be decoded from their vocalizationsCarefully constructed protocol sustains vole's interest in vocal playbackFemale prairie voles behaviorally recognize their mate's vocalizations.
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2
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Salmon C, Li S, Burrows EL, Johnson KA. Translational validity of neuropsychological tasks of sustained attention between rodents and humans: A systematic review of three rodent tasks. J Neurochem 2024. [PMID: 38690648 DOI: 10.1111/jnc.16117] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/30/2023] [Revised: 03/26/2024] [Accepted: 04/09/2024] [Indexed: 05/02/2024]
Abstract
Atypical sustained attention is a symptom in a number of neurological and psychological conditions. Investigations into its neural underpinnings are required for improved management and treatment. Rodents are useful in investigating the neurobiology underlying atypical sustained attention and several rodent tasks have been developed for use in touchscreen testing platforms that mimic methodology used in human clinical attention assessment. This systematic review was conducted to assess how translatable these rodent tasks are to equivalent clinical human tasks. Studies using the rodent Continuous Performance Task (rCPT), Sustained Attention Task (SAT), and 5-choice CPT (5C-CPT) were sought and screened. Included in the review were 138 studies, using the rCPT (n = 21), SAT (n = 90), and 5C-CPT (n = 27). Translatability between rodent and human studies was assessed based on (1) methodological similarity, (2) performance similarity, and (3) replication of results. The 5C-CPT was found to be the most translatable cross-species paradigm with good utility, while the rCPT and SAT require adaptation and further development to meet these translatability benchmarks. With greater replication and more consistent results, greater confidence in the translation of sustained attention results between species will be engendered.
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Affiliation(s)
- Claire Salmon
- Melbourne School of Psychological Sciences, University of Melbourne, Parkville, Victoria, Australia
| | - Shuting Li
- Melbourne School of Psychological Sciences, University of Melbourne, Parkville, Victoria, Australia
- Florey Institute of Neuroscience and Mental Health, University of Melbourne, Parkville, Victoria, Australia
| | - Emma L Burrows
- Florey Institute of Neuroscience and Mental Health, University of Melbourne, Parkville, Victoria, Australia
| | - Katherine A Johnson
- Melbourne School of Psychological Sciences, University of Melbourne, Parkville, Victoria, Australia
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3
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Griffiths CS, Lebert JM, Sollini J, Bizley JK. Gradient boosted decision trees reveal nuances of auditory discrimination behavior. PLoS Comput Biol 2024; 20:e1011985. [PMID: 38626220 PMCID: PMC11051626 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pcbi.1011985] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/26/2023] [Revised: 04/26/2024] [Accepted: 03/09/2024] [Indexed: 04/18/2024] Open
Abstract
Animal psychophysics can generate rich behavioral datasets, often comprised of many 1000s of trials for an individual subject. Gradient-boosted models are a promising machine learning approach for analyzing such data, partly due to the tools that allow users to gain insight into how the model makes predictions. We trained ferrets to report a target word's presence, timing, and lateralization within a stream of consecutively presented non-target words. To assess the animals' ability to generalize across pitch, we manipulated the fundamental frequency (F0) of the speech stimuli across trials, and to assess the contribution of pitch to streaming, we roved the F0 from word token to token. We then implemented gradient-boosted regression and decision trees on the trial outcome and reaction time data to understand the behavioral factors behind the ferrets' decision-making. We visualized model contributions by implementing SHAPs feature importance and partial dependency plots. While ferrets could accurately perform the task across all pitch-shifted conditions, our models reveal subtle effects of shifting F0 on performance, with within-trial pitch shifting elevating false alarms and extending reaction times. Our models identified a subset of non-target words that animals commonly false alarmed to. Follow-up analysis demonstrated that the spectrotemporal similarity of target and non-target words rather than similarity in duration or amplitude waveform was the strongest predictor of the likelihood of false alarming. Finally, we compared the results with those obtained with traditional mixed effects models, revealing equivalent or better performance for the gradient-boosted models over these approaches.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Jules M. Lebert
- Ear Institute, University College London, London, United Kingdom
| | - Joseph Sollini
- Ear Institute, University College London, London, United Kingdom
- Hearing Sciences, University of Nottingham, Nottingham, United Kingdom
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Wardak AD, Olszyński KH, Polowy R, Matysiak J, Filipkowski RK. Rats that learn to vocalize for food reward emit longer and louder appetitive calls and fewer short aversive calls. PLoS One 2024; 19:e0297174. [PMID: 38335191 PMCID: PMC10857575 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0297174] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/30/2023] [Accepted: 12/31/2023] [Indexed: 02/12/2024] Open
Abstract
Rats are social animals that use ultrasonic vocalizations (USV) in their intraspecific communication. Several types of USV have been previously described, e.g., appetitive 50-kHz USV and aversive short 22-kHz USV. It is not fully understood which aspects of the USV repertoire play important functions during rat ultrasonic exchange. Here, we investigated features of USV emitted by rats trained in operant conditioning, is a form of associative learning between behavior and its consequences, to reinforce the production/emission of 50-kHz USV. Twenty percent of the trained rats learned to vocalize to receive a reward according to an arbitrarily set criterion, i.e., reaching the maximum number of proper responses by the end of each of the last three USV-training sessions, as well as according to a set of measurements independent from the criterion (e.g., shortening of training sessions). Over the training days, these rats also exhibited: an increasing percentage of rewarded 50-kHz calls, lengthening and amplitude-increasing of 50-kHz calls, and decreasing number of short 22-kHz calls. As a result, the potentially learning rats, when compared to non-learning rats, displayed shorter training sessions and different USV structure, i.e. higher call rates, more rewarded 50-kHz calls, longer and louder 50-kHz calls and fewer short 22-kHz calls. Finally, we reviewed the current literature knowledge regarding different lengths of 50-kHz calls in different behavioral contexts, the potential function of short 22-kHz calls as well as speculate that USV may not easily become an operant response due to their primary biological role, i.e., communication of emotional state between conspecifics.
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Affiliation(s)
- Agnieszka D. Wardak
- Behavior and Metabolism Research Laboratory, Mossakowski Medical Research Institute, Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw, Poland
| | - Krzysztof H. Olszyński
- Behavior and Metabolism Research Laboratory, Mossakowski Medical Research Institute, Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw, Poland
| | - Rafał Polowy
- Behavior and Metabolism Research Laboratory, Mossakowski Medical Research Institute, Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw, Poland
| | - Jan Matysiak
- Institute of Psychology, University of Economics and Human Sciences in Warsaw, Warsaw, Poland
| | - Robert K. Filipkowski
- Behavior and Metabolism Research Laboratory, Mossakowski Medical Research Institute, Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw, Poland
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Martin A, Souffi S, Huetz C, Edeline JM. Can Extensive Training Transform a Mouse into a Guinea Pig? An Evaluation Based on the Discriminative Abilities of Inferior Colliculus Neurons. BIOLOGY 2024; 13:92. [PMID: 38392310 PMCID: PMC10886615 DOI: 10.3390/biology13020092] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/04/2023] [Revised: 01/19/2024] [Accepted: 01/30/2024] [Indexed: 02/24/2024]
Abstract
Humans and animals maintain accurate discrimination between communication sounds in the presence of loud sources of background noise. In previous studies performed in anesthetized guinea pigs, we showed that, in the auditory pathway, the highest discriminative abilities between conspecific vocalizations were found in the inferior colliculus. Here, we trained CBA/J mice in a Go/No-Go task to discriminate between two similar guinea pig whistles, first in quiet conditions, then in two types of noise, a stationary noise and a chorus noise at three SNRs. Control mice were passively exposed to the same number of whistles as trained mice. After three months of extensive training, inferior colliculus (IC) neurons were recorded under anesthesia and the responses were quantified as in our previous studies. In quiet, the mean values of the firing rate, the temporal reliability and mutual information obtained from trained mice were higher than from the exposed mice and the guinea pigs. In stationary and chorus noise, there were only a few differences between the trained mice and the guinea pigs; and the lowest mean values of the parameters were found in the exposed mice. These results suggest that behavioral training can trigger plasticity in IC that allows mice neurons to reach guinea pig-like discrimination abilities.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alexandra Martin
- Paris-Saclay Institute of Neuroscience (Neuro-PSI, UMR 9197), CNRS & Université Paris-Saclay, 91400 Saclay, France
| | - Samira Souffi
- Paris-Saclay Institute of Neuroscience (Neuro-PSI, UMR 9197), CNRS & Université Paris-Saclay, 91400 Saclay, France
| | - Chloé Huetz
- Paris-Saclay Institute of Neuroscience (Neuro-PSI, UMR 9197), CNRS & Université Paris-Saclay, 91400 Saclay, France
| | - Jean-Marc Edeline
- Paris-Saclay Institute of Neuroscience (Neuro-PSI, UMR 9197), CNRS & Université Paris-Saclay, 91400 Saclay, France
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6
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Charlton PE, Burke K, Kobrina A, Lauer AM, Dent ML. The perception of ultrasonic vocalizations by laboratory mice following intense noise exposures. THE JOURNAL OF THE ACOUSTICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA 2024; 155:867-878. [PMID: 38310604 PMCID: PMC10838193 DOI: 10.1121/10.0024614] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/30/2023] [Revised: 01/02/2024] [Accepted: 01/11/2024] [Indexed: 02/06/2024]
Abstract
Noise-induced hearing loss interacts with age, sex, and listening conditions to affect individuals' perception of ecologically relevant stimuli like speech. The present experiments assessed the impact of age and sex on vocalization detection by noise-exposed mice trained to detect a downsweep or complex ultrasonic vocalization in quiet or in the presence of a noise background. Daily thresholds before and following intense noise exposure were collected longitudinally and compared across several factors. All mice, regardless of age, sex, listening condition, or stimulus type showed their poorest behavioral sensitivity immediately after the noise exposure. There were varying degrees of recovery over time and across factors. Old-aged mice had greater threshold shifts and less recovery compared to middle-aged mice. Mice had larger threshold shifts and less recovery for downsweeps than for complex vocalizations. Female mice were more sensitive, had smaller post-noise shifts, and had better recovery than males. Thresholds in noise were higher and less variable than thresholds in quiet, but there were comparable shifts and recovery. In mice, as in humans, the perception of ecologically relevant stimuli suffers after an intense noise exposure, and results differ from simple tone detection findings.
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Affiliation(s)
- Payton E Charlton
- Department of Psychology, University at Buffalo, The State University of New York, Buffalo, New York 14260, USA
| | - Kali Burke
- Department of Psychology, University at Buffalo, The State University of New York, Buffalo, New York 14260, USA
| | - Anastasiya Kobrina
- Department of Psychology, University at Buffalo, The State University of New York, Buffalo, New York 14260, USA
| | - Amanda M Lauer
- Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery and Center for Hearing and Balance, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland 21287, USA
| | - Micheal L Dent
- Department of Psychology, University at Buffalo, The State University of New York, Buffalo, New York 14260, USA
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7
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Drotos AC, Roberts MT. Identifying neuron types and circuit mechanisms in the auditory midbrain. Hear Res 2024; 442:108938. [PMID: 38141518 PMCID: PMC11000261 DOI: 10.1016/j.heares.2023.108938] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/08/2023] [Revised: 11/27/2023] [Accepted: 12/18/2023] [Indexed: 12/25/2023]
Abstract
The inferior colliculus (IC) is a critical computational hub in the central auditory pathway. From its position in the midbrain, the IC receives nearly all the ascending output from the lower auditory brainstem and provides the main source of auditory information to the thalamocortical system. In addition to being a crossroads for auditory circuits, the IC is rich with local circuits and contains more than five times as many neurons as the nuclei of the lower auditory brainstem combined. These results hint at the enormous computational power of the IC, and indeed, systems-level studies have identified numerous important transformations in sound coding that occur in the IC. However, despite decades of effort, the cellular mechanisms underlying IC computations and how these computations change following hearing loss have remained largely impenetrable. In this review, we argue that this challenge persists due to the surprisingly difficult problem of identifying the neuron types and circuit motifs that comprise the IC. After summarizing the extensive evidence pointing to a diversity of neuron types in the IC, we highlight the successes of recent efforts to parse this complexity using molecular markers to define neuron types. We conclude by arguing that the discovery of molecularly identifiable neuron types ushers in a new era for IC research marked by molecularly targeted recordings and manipulations. We propose that the ability to reproducibly investigate IC circuits at the neuronal level will lead to rapid advances in understanding the fundamental mechanisms driving IC computations and how these mechanisms shift following hearing loss.
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Affiliation(s)
- Audrey C Drotos
- Kresge Hearing Research Institute, Department of Otolaryngology - Head and Neck Surgery, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, United States
| | - Michael T Roberts
- Kresge Hearing Research Institute, Department of Otolaryngology - Head and Neck Surgery, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, United States; Department of Molecular and Integrative Physiology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, 48109, United States.
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Perrodin C, Verzat C, Bendor D. Courtship behaviour reveals temporal regularity is a critical social cue in mouse communication. eLife 2023; 12:RP86464. [PMID: 38149925 PMCID: PMC10752583 DOI: 10.7554/elife.86464] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/28/2023] Open
Abstract
While animals navigating the real world face a barrage of sensory input, their brains evolved to perceptually compress multidimensional information by selectively extracting the features relevant for survival. Notably, communication signals supporting social interactions in several mammalian species consist of acoustically complex sequences of vocalisations. However, little is known about what information listeners extract from such time-varying sensory streams. Here, we utilise female mice's natural behavioural response to male courtship songs to identify the relevant acoustic dimensions used in their social decisions. We found that females were highly sensitive to disruptions of song temporal regularity and preferentially approached playbacks of intact over rhythmically irregular versions of male songs. In contrast, female behaviour was invariant to manipulations affecting the songs' sequential organisation or the spectro-temporal structure of individual syllables. The results reveal temporal regularity as a key acoustic cue extracted by mammalian listeners from complex vocal sequences during goal-directed social behaviour.
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Affiliation(s)
- Catherine Perrodin
- Institute of Behavioural Neuroscience, Department of Experimental Psychology, University College LondonLondonUnited Kingdom
| | - Colombine Verzat
- Institute of Behavioural Neuroscience, Department of Experimental Psychology, University College LondonLondonUnited Kingdom
- Idiap Research InstituteMartignySwitzerland
| | - Daniel Bendor
- Institute of Behavioural Neuroscience, Department of Experimental Psychology, University College LondonLondonUnited Kingdom
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Stoumpou V, Vargas CDM, Schade PF, Boyd JL, Giannakopoulos T, Jarvis ED. Analysis of Mouse Vocal Communication (AMVOC): a deep, unsupervised method for rapid detection, analysis and classification of ultrasonic vocalisations. BIOACOUSTICS 2022. [DOI: 10.1080/09524622.2022.2099973] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/02/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Vasiliki Stoumpou
- School of Electrical and Computer Engineering, National Technical University of Athens, Athens, Greece
| | - César D. M. Vargas
- Laboratory of Neurogenetics of Language, The Rockefeller University, New York, NY, USA
| | - Peter F. Schade
- Laboratory of Neurogenetics of Language, The Rockefeller University, New York, NY, USA
- Laboratory of Neural Systems, The Rockefeller University, New York, NY, USA
| | - J. Lomax Boyd
- Berman Institute of Bioethics, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, USA
| | - Theodoros Giannakopoulos
- Computational Intelligence Lab, Institute of Informatics and Telecommunications, National Center of Scientific Research 'Demokritos', Athens, Greece
| | - Erich D. Jarvis
- Laboratory of Neurogenetics of Language, The Rockefeller University, New York, NY, USA
- Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Chevy Chase, MD, USA
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Abbasi R, Balazs P, Marconi MA, Nicolakis D, Zala SM, Penn DJ. Capturing the songs of mice with an improved detection and classification method for ultrasonic vocalizations (BootSnap). PLoS Comput Biol 2022; 18:e1010049. [PMID: 35551265 PMCID: PMC9098080 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pcbi.1010049] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/13/2021] [Accepted: 03/22/2022] [Indexed: 12/02/2022] Open
Abstract
House mice communicate through ultrasonic vocalizations (USVs), which are above the range of human hearing (>20 kHz), and several automated methods have been developed for USV detection and classification. Here we evaluate their advantages and disadvantages in a full, systematic comparison, while also presenting a new approach. This study aims to 1) determine the most efficient USV detection tool among the existing methods, and 2) develop a classification model that is more generalizable than existing methods. In both cases, we aim to minimize the user intervention required for processing new data. We compared the performance of four detection methods in an out-of-the-box approach, pretrained DeepSqueak detector, MUPET, USVSEG, and the Automatic Mouse Ultrasound Detector (A-MUD). We also compared these methods to human visual or ‘manual’ classification (ground truth) after assessing its reliability. A-MUD and USVSEG outperformed the other methods in terms of true positive rates using default and adjusted settings, respectively, and A-MUD outperformed USVSEG when false detection rates were also considered. For automating the classification of USVs, we developed BootSnap for supervised classification, which combines bootstrapping on Gammatone Spectrograms and Convolutional Neural Networks algorithms with Snapshot ensemble learning. It successfully classified calls into 12 types, including a new class of false positives that is useful for detection refinement. BootSnap outperformed the pretrained and retrained state-of-the-art tool, and thus it is more generalizable. BootSnap is freely available for scientific use. House mice and many other species use ultrasonic vocalizations to communicate in various contexts including social and sexual interactions. These vocalizations are increasingly investigated in research on animal communication and as a phenotype for studying the genetic basis of autism and speech disorders. Because manual methods for analyzing vocalizations are extremely time consuming, automatic tools for detection and classification are needed. We evaluated the performance of the available tools for analyzing ultrasonic vocalizations, and we compared detection tools for the first time to manual methods (“ground truth”) using recordings from wild-derived and laboratory mice. For the first time, class-wise inter-observer reliability of manual labels used for ground truth are analyzed and reported. Moreover, we developed a new classification method based on ensemble deep learning that provides more generalizability than the current state-of-the-art tool (both pretrained and retrained). Our new classification method is free for scientific use.
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Affiliation(s)
- Reyhaneh Abbasi
- Acoustic Research Institute, Austrian Academy of Sciences, Vienna, Austria
- Konrad Lorenz Institute of Ethology, Department of Interdisciplinary Life Sciences, University of Veterinary Medicine, Vienna, Austria
- Vienna Doctoral School of Cognition, Behaviour and Neuroscience, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
- * E-mail:
| | - Peter Balazs
- Acoustic Research Institute, Austrian Academy of Sciences, Vienna, Austria
| | - Maria Adelaide Marconi
- Konrad Lorenz Institute of Ethology, Department of Interdisciplinary Life Sciences, University of Veterinary Medicine, Vienna, Austria
| | - Doris Nicolakis
- Konrad Lorenz Institute of Ethology, Department of Interdisciplinary Life Sciences, University of Veterinary Medicine, Vienna, Austria
| | - Sarah M. Zala
- Konrad Lorenz Institute of Ethology, Department of Interdisciplinary Life Sciences, University of Veterinary Medicine, Vienna, Austria
| | - Dustin J. Penn
- Konrad Lorenz Institute of Ethology, Department of Interdisciplinary Life Sciences, University of Veterinary Medicine, Vienna, Austria
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11
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Burke K, Ohman KA, Manohar S, Dent ML. Blast trauma affects production and perception of mouse ultrasonic vocalizations. THE JOURNAL OF THE ACOUSTICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA 2022; 151:817. [PMID: 35232087 PMCID: PMC8817783 DOI: 10.1121/10.0009359] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/20/2021] [Revised: 12/22/2021] [Accepted: 01/06/2022] [Indexed: 06/14/2023]
Abstract
Blast trauma from explosions affects hearing and communication in a significant proportion of soldiers. Many veterans report difficulty communicating, especially in noisy and reverberant environments, which contributes to complex mental health problems including anxiety and depression. However, the relationship between communication and perceptual problems after a blast has received little scientific attention. In the current studies, the effects of blast trauma on the production and perception of ultrasonic vocalizations (USVs) by CBA/CaJ mice, a common animal model for hearing and communication disorders, was explored. Overall, mice change the total number of vocalizations, the proportion produced of each syllable category, and the peak frequency, bandwidth, and duration of their vocalizations after blast exposure. Further, the perception of USVs is affected after blast trauma, with an immediate worsening of detection for most USV categories in the first 1-5 days after blasts, which later recovers. This study is the first to examine changes in the production and perception of communication signals after blast traumas in mice and is an important step towards developing treatments for blast-induced hearing and communication disorders.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kali Burke
- Department of Psychology, University at Buffalo, The State University of New York, Buffalo, New York 14260, USA
| | - Kathleen A Ohman
- Department of Psychology, University at Buffalo, The State University of New York, Buffalo, New York 14260, USA
| | - Senthilvelan Manohar
- Center for Hearing and Deafness and Department of Communication Disorders and Sciences, University at Buffalo, The State University of New York, Buffalo, New York 14260, USA
| | - Micheal L Dent
- Department of Psychology, University at Buffalo, The State University of New York, Buffalo, New York 14260, USA
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12
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Long term changes to auditory sensitivity following blast trauma in mice. Hear Res 2021; 403:108201. [PMID: 33636682 DOI: 10.1016/j.heares.2021.108201] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/05/2020] [Revised: 01/21/2021] [Accepted: 02/06/2021] [Indexed: 11/21/2022]
Abstract
Blast trauma is a common acoustic/physical insult occurring in modern warfare. Twenty percent of active duty military come into close proximity to explosions and experience mild to severe sensory deficits. The prevalence of such injuries is high but correlating auditory sensitivity changes with the initial insult is difficult because injury and evaluations are often separated by long time periods. Here, auditory sensitivity was measured before and after a traumatic blast in adult CBA/CaJ mice using auditory brainstem responses, distortion production otoacoustic emissions, and behavioral detection of pure tones. These measurements included baseline auditory sensitivity prior to injury in all mice, and again at 3, 30, and 90 days after the blast in the two physiological groups, and daily for up to 90 days in the behavioral group. Mice in all groups experienced an initial deterioration in auditory sensitivity, though physiological measurements showed evidence of recovery that behavioral measurements did not. Amplitudes and latencies of ABR waves may reflect additional changes beyond the peripheral damage shown by the threshold changes and should be explored further. The present work addresses a major gap in the current acoustic trauma literature both in terms of comparing physiological and behavioral methods, as well as measuring the time course of recovery.
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13
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Zala SM, Nicolakis D, Marconi MA, Noll A, Ruf T, Balazs P, Penn DJ. Primed to vocalize: Wild-derived male house mice increase vocalization rate and diversity after a previous encounter with a female. PLoS One 2020; 15:e0242959. [PMID: 33296411 PMCID: PMC7725367 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0242959] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/08/2019] [Accepted: 11/13/2020] [Indexed: 01/21/2023] Open
Abstract
Males in a wide variety of taxa, including insects, birds and mammals, produce vocalizations to attract females. Male house mice emit ultrasonic vocalizations (USVs), especially during courtship and mating, which are surprising complex. It is often suggested that male mice vocalize at higher rates after interacting with a female, but the evidence is mixed depending upon the strain of mice. We conducted a study with wild-derived house mice (Mus musculus musculus) to test whether male courtship vocalizations (i.e., vocalizations emitted in a sexual context) are influenced by a prior direct interaction with a female, and if so, determine how long the effect lasts. We allowed sexually naïve males to directly interact with a female for five minutes (sexual priming), and then we recorded males'vocalizations either 1, 10, 20, or 30 days later when presented with an unfamiliar female (separated by a perforated partition) and female scent. We automatically detected USVs and processed recordings using the Automatic Mouse Ultrasound Detector (A-MUD version 3.2), and we describe our improved version of this tool and tests of its performance. We measured vocalization rate and spectro-temporal features and we manually classified USVs into 15 types to investigate priming effects on vocal repertoire diversity and composition. After sexual priming, males emitted nearly three times as many USVs, they had a larger repertoire diversity, and their vocalizations had different spectro-temporal features (USV length, slope and variability in USV frequency) compared to unprimed controls. Unprimed control males had the most distinctive repertoire composition compared to the primed groups. Most of the effects were found when comparing unprimed to all primed males (treatment models), irrespective of the time since priming. Timepoint models showed that USV length increased 1 day after priming, that repertoire diversity increased 1 and 20 days after priming, and that the variability of USV frequencies was lower 20 and 30 days after priming. Our results show that wild-derived male mice increased the number and diversity of courtship vocalizations if they previously interacted with a female. Thus, the USVs of house mice are not only context-dependent, they depend upon previous social experience and perhaps the contexts of these experiences. The effect of sexual priming on male courtship vocalizations is likely mediated by neuro-endocrine-mechanisms, which may function to advertise males' sexual arousal and facilitate social recognition.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sarah M. Zala
- Konrad Lorenz Institute of Ethology, University of Veterinary Medicine, Vienna, Austria
| | - Doris Nicolakis
- Konrad Lorenz Institute of Ethology, University of Veterinary Medicine, Vienna, Austria
| | | | - Anton Noll
- Acoustic Research Institute, Austrian Academy of Sciences, Vienna, Austria
| | - Thomas Ruf
- Research Institute of Wildlife Ecology, University of Veterinary Medicine, Vienna, Austria
| | - Peter Balazs
- Acoustic Research Institute, Austrian Academy of Sciences, Vienna, Austria
| | - Dustin J. Penn
- Konrad Lorenz Institute of Ethology, University of Veterinary Medicine, Vienna, Austria
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Marconi MA, Nicolakis D, Abbasi R, Penn DJ, Zala SM. Ultrasonic courtship vocalizations of male house mice contain distinct individual signatures. Anim Behav 2020. [DOI: 10.1016/j.anbehav.2020.09.006] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/23/2022]
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15
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Dunlap AG, Besosa C, Pascual LM, Chong KK, Walum H, Kacsoh DB, Tankeu BB, Lu K, Liu RC. Becoming a better parent: Mice learn sounds that improve a stereotyped maternal behavior. Horm Behav 2020; 124:104779. [PMID: 32502487 PMCID: PMC7487030 DOI: 10.1016/j.yhbeh.2020.104779] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/19/2019] [Revised: 04/22/2020] [Accepted: 05/18/2020] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
Abstract
While mothering is often instinctive and stereotyped in species-specific ways, evolution can favor genetically "open" behavior programs that allow experience to shape infant care. Among experience-dependent maternal behavioral mechanisms, sensory learning about infants has been hard to separate from motivational changes arising from sensitization with infants. We developed a paradigm in which sensory learning of an infant-associated cue improves a stereotypical maternal behavior in female mice. Mice instinctively employed a spatial memory-based strategy when engaged repetitively in a pup search and retrieval task. However, by playing a sound from a T-maze arm to signal where a pup will be delivered for retrieval, mice learned within 7 days and retained for at least 2 weeks the ability to use this specific cue to guide a more efficient search strategy. The motivation to retrieve pups also increased with learning on average, but their correlation did not explain performance at the trial level. Bilaterally silencing auditory cortical activity significantly impaired the utilization of new strategy without changing the motivation to retrieve pups. Finally, motherhood as compared to infant-care experience alone accelerated how quickly the new sensory-based strategy was acquired, suggesting a role for the maternal hormonal state. By rigorously establishing that newly formed sensory associations can improve the performance of a natural maternal behavior, this work facilitates future studies into the neurochemical and circuit mechanisms that mediate novel sensory learning in the maternal context, as well as more learning-based mechanisms of parental behavior in rodents.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alexander G Dunlap
- Bioengineering Interdisciplinary Graduate Program, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA, USA; Department of Biology, Emory University, Atlanta, GA, USA
| | | | - Leila M Pascual
- Neuroscience Graduate Program, Emory University, Atlanta, GA, USA
| | - Kelly K Chong
- Department of Biology, Emory University, Atlanta, GA, USA; Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology and Emory University, Atlanta, GA, USA
| | - Hasse Walum
- Yerkes National Primate Research Center, Emory University, Atlanta, GA, USA
| | | | - Brenda B Tankeu
- Department of Natural Sciences, Bowie State University, Bowie, MD, USA; Emory College Summer Undergraduate Research Experience Program, Atlanta, GA, USA
| | - Kai Lu
- Department of Biology, Emory University, Atlanta, GA, USA
| | - Robert C Liu
- Department of Biology, Emory University, Atlanta, GA, USA; Silvio O. Conte Center for Oxytocin and Social Cognition and Center for Translational Social Neuroscience, Atlanta, GA, USA.
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16
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Freeman AR, Hare JF, Caldwell HK. Call-specific patterns of neural activation in auditory processing of Richardson's ground squirrel alarm calls. Brain Behav 2020; 10:e01629. [PMID: 32307882 PMCID: PMC7313678 DOI: 10.1002/brb3.1629] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/20/2019] [Revised: 03/11/2020] [Accepted: 03/20/2020] [Indexed: 12/31/2022] Open
Abstract
INTRODUCTION Richardson's ground squirrels use alarm calls to warn conspecifics about potential predatory threats. Chirp calls typically indicate high levels of threat from airborne predators, while whistle calls are associated with lower levels of threat from terrestrial predators. These types of calls primarily elicit escape behaviors and increased vigilance in receivers, respectively. While much is known about the neural mechanisms involved in the production of vocalizations, less is known about the mechanisms important for the perception of alarm calls by receivers, and whether changes in perceived risk are associated with unique patterns of neuronal activation. Thus, to determine whether alarm calls associated with different levels of predation risk result in differential neuronal activation, we used immunohistochemistry to identify and quantify c-Fos immunopositive cells in brain regions important in stress, fear, danger, and reward, following alarm call reception. METHODS We exposed 29 female Richardson's ground squirrels (10 control, 10 whistle receivers, and 9 chirp receivers) to playbacks of whistles, chirps, or a no-vocalization control. We then assessed neuronal activation via c-Fos immunohistochemistry in 12 brain regions. RESULTS Ground squirrels receiving high-threat "chirp" vocalizations had reduced neuronal activation in the medial amygdala and superior colliculus compared with controls. It is likely that changes in activity in these brain regions serve to alter the balance between approach and avoidance in turn promoting escape behaviors. CONCLUSIONS Thus, we conclude that in Richardson's ground squirrels, these brain regions are important for the perception of risk resulting from receiving alarm calls and allow for appropriate behavioral responses by receivers.
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Affiliation(s)
- Angela R Freeman
- Laboratory of Neuroendocrinology and Behavior, Department of Biological Sciences, Kent State University, Kent, OH, USA
| | - James F Hare
- Department of Biological Sciences, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, MB, Canada
| | - Heather K Caldwell
- Laboratory of Neuroendocrinology and Behavior, Department of Biological Sciences, Kent State University, Kent, OH, USA.,School of Biomedical Sciences, Kent State University, Kent, OH, USA
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17
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Experience-Dependent Coding of Time-Dependent Frequency Trajectories by Off Responses in Secondary Auditory Cortex. J Neurosci 2020; 40:4469-4482. [PMID: 32327533 PMCID: PMC7275866 DOI: 10.1523/jneurosci.2665-19.2020] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/11/2019] [Revised: 04/02/2020] [Accepted: 04/07/2020] [Indexed: 11/21/2022] Open
Abstract
Time-dependent frequency trajectories are an inherent feature of many behaviorally relevant sounds, such as species-specific vocalizations. Dynamic frequency trajectories, even in short sounds, often convey meaningful information, which may be used to differentiate sound categories. However, it is not clear what and where neural responses in the auditory cortical pathway are critical for conveying information about behaviorally relevant frequency trajectories, and how these responses change with experience. Here, we uncover tuning to subtle variations in frequency trajectories in auditory cortex of female mice. We found that auditory cortical responses could be modulated by variations in a pure tone trajectory as small as 1/24th of an octave, comparable to what has been reported in primates. In particular, late spiking after the end of a sound stimulus was more often sensitive to the sound's subtle frequency variation compared with spiking during the sound. Such “Off” responses in the adult A2, but not those in core auditory cortex, were plastic in a way that may enhance the representation of a newly acquired, behaviorally relevant sound category. We illustrate this with the maternal mouse paradigm for natural vocalization learning. By using an ethologically inspired paradigm to drive auditory responses in higher-order neurons, our results demonstrate that mouse auditory cortex can track fine frequency changes, which allows A2 Off responses in particular to better respond to pitch trajectories that distinguish behaviorally relevant, natural sound categories. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT A whistle's pitch conveys meaning to its listener, as when dogs learn that distinct pitch trajectories whistled by their owner differentiate specific commands. Many species use pitch trajectories in their own vocalizations to distinguish sound categories, such as in human languages, such as Mandarin. How and where auditory neural activity encodes these pitch trajectories as their meaning is learned but not well understood, especially for short-duration sounds. We studied this in mice, where infants use ultrasonic whistles to communicate to adults. We found that late neural firing after a sound ends can be tuned to how the pitch changes in time, and that this response in a secondary auditory cortical field changes with experience to acquire a pitch change's meaning.
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18
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Ronald KL, Zhang X, Morrison MV, Miller R, Hurley LM. Male mice adjust courtship behavior in response to female multimodal signals. PLoS One 2020; 15:e0229302. [PMID: 32241020 PMCID: PMC7117945 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0229302] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/23/2019] [Accepted: 02/03/2020] [Indexed: 01/27/2023] Open
Abstract
Multimodal signaling is nearly ubiquitous across animal taxa. While much research has focused on male signal production contributing to female mate-choice or preferences, females often give their own multimodal signals during intersexual communication events. Multimodal signal components are often classified based on whether they contain redundant information (e.g., the backup hypothesis) or non-redundant information (e.g., the multiple messages hypothesis) from the perspective of the receiver. We investigated the role of two different female vocalizations produced by the female house mouse (Mus musculus): the broadband, relatively low-frequency squeaks (broadband vocalizations or BBVs,), and the higher-frequency ultrasonic vocalizations (USVs). These female vocalizations may convey differently valenced information to the male receivers. We paired these vocalizations with and without female urine to examine the influence of combining information across multiple modalities. We found evidence that female urine and vocalizations act as non-redundant multimodal cues as males responded with different behaviors and vocalization rates depending on the female signal presented. Additionally, male mice responded with greater courtship effort to the multimodal combination of female USVs paired with female urine than any other signal combination. These results suggest that the olfactory information contained in female urine provides the context by which males can then evaluate potentially ambiguous female vocalizations.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kelly L. Ronald
- Department of Biology, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN, United States of America
- Department of Biology, Hope College, Holland, MI, United States of America
| | - Xinzhu Zhang
- Department of Biology, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN, United States of America
- Department of Evolution, Ecology, and Organismal Biology, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, United States of America
| | - Matthew V. Morrison
- Department of Biology, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN, United States of America
| | - Ryan Miller
- Department of Biology, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN, United States of America
| | - Laura M. Hurley
- Department of Biology, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN, United States of America
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19
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Ultrasonic signals associated with different types of social behavior of mice. Nat Neurosci 2020; 23:411-422. [PMID: 32066980 PMCID: PMC7065962 DOI: 10.1038/s41593-020-0584-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 66] [Impact Index Per Article: 16.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/15/2018] [Accepted: 12/31/2019] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
Abstract
Communication plays an integral role in human social dynamics and is impaired in several neurodevelopmental disorders. Mice are used to study the neurobiology of social behavior; however, the extent to which mouse vocalizations influence social dynamics has remained elusive because it is difficult to identify the vocalizing animal among mice involved in a group interaction. By tracking the ultrasonic vocal behavior of individual mice and using an algorithm developed to group phonically similar signals, we showed that distinct patterns of vocalization emerge as male mice perform specific social actions. Mice dominating other mice were more likely to emit different vocal signals than mice avoiding social interactions. Furthermore, we showed that the patterns of vocal expression influence the behavior of the socially engaged partner but do not influence the behavior of other animals in the cage. These findings clarify the function of mouse communication by revealing a communicative ultrasonic signaling repertoire.
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20
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Cai H, Dent ML. Best sensitivity of temporal modulation transfer functions in laboratory mice matches the amplitude modulation embedded in vocalizations. THE JOURNAL OF THE ACOUSTICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA 2020; 147:337. [PMID: 32006990 PMCID: PMC7043865 DOI: 10.1121/10.0000583] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/30/2019] [Revised: 12/18/2019] [Accepted: 12/22/2019] [Indexed: 06/10/2023]
Abstract
The perception of spectrotemporal changes is crucial for distinguishing between acoustic signals, including vocalizations. Temporal modulation transfer functions (TMTFs) have been measured in many species and reveal that the discrimination of amplitude modulation suffers at rapid modulation frequencies. TMTFs were measured in six CBA/CaJ mice in an operant conditioning procedure, where mice were trained to discriminate an 800 ms amplitude modulated white noise target from a continuous noise background. TMTFs of mice show a bandpass characteristic, with an upper limit cutoff frequency of around 567 Hz. Within the measured modulation frequencies ranging from 5 Hz to 1280 Hz, the mice show a best sensitivity for amplitude modulation at around 160 Hz. To look for a possible parallel evolution between sound perception and production in living organisms, we also analyzed the components of amplitude modulations embedded in natural ultrasonic vocalizations (USVs) emitted by this strain. We found that the cutoff frequency of amplitude modulation in most of the individual USVs is around their most sensitive range obtained from the psychoacoustic experiments. Further analyses of the duration and modulation frequency ranges of USVs indicated that the broader the frequency ranges of amplitude modulation in natural USVs, the shorter the durations of the USVs.
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Affiliation(s)
- Huaizhen Cai
- Department of Psychology, University at Buffalo-SUNY, Buffalo, New York 14260, USA
| | - Micheal L Dent
- Department of Psychology, University at Buffalo-SUNY, Buffalo, New York 14260, USA
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21
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Screven LA, Dent ML. Perception of Ultrasonic Vocalizations by Socially Housed and Isolated Mice. eNeuro 2019; 6:ENEURO.0049-19.2019. [PMID: 31570420 PMCID: PMC6794080 DOI: 10.1523/eneuro.0049-19.2019] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/12/2019] [Revised: 09/06/2019] [Accepted: 09/10/2019] [Indexed: 11/22/2022] Open
Abstract
It is currently unclear whether mice use their ultrasonic vocalizations (USVs) for communication purposes. It is also unknown whether mice require previous experience with USVs to understand conspecifics. There is some evidence that experience changes the perception of juvenile USVs; however, it is unclear whether similar plasticity also occurs for adult USVs. To examine whether social exposure or deprivation throughout development leads to changes in USV perception, eleven female CBA/CaJ mice were trained to discriminate between 18 USVs of three different categories using operant conditioning procedures. Mice were group housed with four females or housed individually from weaning for the duration of the experiment. Socially housed and isolated mice differed in initial training times on pure tones, suggesting isolated mice had a more difficult time learning the task. Both groups completed USV discrimination conditions quicker at the end of the testing phases relative to the beginning. The overall discrimination of USVs did not differ between the two housing conditions, but a multidimensional scaling analysis revealed that socially experienced and isolated mice perceive some USVs differently, illustrated by differences in locations of USVs on the scaling maps from the two groups. Finally, a negative correlation was found between spectrotemporal similarity and percent discrimination, and analyses support the idea that mice may show categorical perception of at least two of the three USV categories. Thus, experience with USVs changes USV perception.
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Affiliation(s)
- Laurel A Screven
- Department of Psychology, University at Buffalo, the State University of New York, Buffalo, NY 14260
| | - Micheal L Dent
- Department of Psychology, University at Buffalo, the State University of New York, Buffalo, NY 14260
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22
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A broad filter between call frequency and peripheral auditory sensitivity in northern grasshopper mice (Onychomys leucogaster). J Comp Physiol A Neuroethol Sens Neural Behav Physiol 2019; 205:481-489. [DOI: 10.1007/s00359-019-01338-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/19/2018] [Revised: 03/18/2019] [Accepted: 04/11/2019] [Indexed: 12/19/2022]
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23
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Fishbein AR, Lawson SL, Dooling RJ, Ball GF. How canaries listen to their song: Species-specific shape of auditory perception. THE JOURNAL OF THE ACOUSTICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA 2019; 145:562. [PMID: 30710963 PMCID: PMC6910023 DOI: 10.1121/1.5087692] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/04/2018] [Revised: 12/19/2018] [Accepted: 12/23/2018] [Indexed: 05/05/2023]
Abstract
The melodic, rolling songs of canaries have entertained humans for centuries and have been studied for decades by researchers interested in vocal learning, but relatively little is known about how the birds listen to their songs. Here, it is investigated how discriminable the general acoustic features of conspecific songs are to canaries, and their discrimination abilities are compared with a small parrot species, the budgerigar. Past experiments have shown that female canaries are more sexually responsive to a particular song element-the "special" syllables-and consistent with those observations, it was found that special syllables are perceptually distinctive for canaries. It is also shown that canaries discriminate the subtle differences among syllables and phrases using spectral, envelope, and temporal fine structure cues. Yet, while canaries can hear these fine details of the acoustic structure of their song, the evidence overall suggests that they listen at a more global, phrase by phrase level, rather than an analytic, syllable by syllable level, except when attending to some features of special syllables. These results depict the species-specific shape of auditory perception in canaries and lay the groundwork for future studies examining how song perception changes seasonally and according to hormonal state.
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Affiliation(s)
- Adam R Fishbein
- Psychology Department, University of Maryland, 4094 Campus Drive, College Park, Maryland 20742, USA
| | - Shelby L Lawson
- Department of Animal Biology, University of Illinois, 505 South Goodwin Avenue, Champaign, Illinois 61801, USA
| | - Robert J Dooling
- Psychology Department, University of Maryland, 4094 Campus Drive, College Park, Maryland 20742, USA
| | - Gregory F Ball
- Psychology Department, University of Maryland, 4094 Campus Drive, College Park, Maryland 20742, USA
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Castellucci GA, Calbick D, McCormick D. The temporal organization of mouse ultrasonic vocalizations. PLoS One 2018; 13:e0199929. [PMID: 30376572 PMCID: PMC6207298 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0199929] [Citation(s) in RCA: 39] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/07/2018] [Accepted: 06/15/2018] [Indexed: 12/30/2022] Open
Abstract
House mice, like many tetrapods, produce multielement calls consisting of individual vocalizations repeated in rhythmic series. In this study, we examine the multielement ultrasonic vocalizations (USVs) of adult male C57Bl/6J mice and specifically assess their temporal properties and organization. We found that male mice produce two classes of USVs which display unique temporal features and arise from discrete respiratory patterns. We also observed that nearly all USVs were produced in repetitive series exhibiting a hierarchical organization and a stereotyped rhythmic structure. Furthermore, series rhythmicity alone was determined to be sufficient for the mathematical discrimination of USVs produced by adult males, adult females, and pups, underscoring the known importance of call timing in USV perception. Finally, the gross spectrotemporal features of male USVs were found to develop continuously from birth and stabilize by P50, suggesting that USV production in infants and adults relies on common biological mechanisms. In conclusion, we demonstrate that the temporal organization of multielement mouse USVs is both stable and informative, and we propose that call timing be explicitly assessed when examining mouse USV production. Furthermore, this is the first report of putative USV classes arising from distinct articulatory patterns in mice, and is the first to empirically define multielement USV series and provide a detailed description of their temporal structure and development. This study therefore represents an important point of reference for the analysis of mouse USVs, a commonly used metric of social behavior in mouse models of human disease, and furthers the understanding of vocalization production in an accessible mammalian species.
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Affiliation(s)
- Gregg A. Castellucci
- Neuroscience Institute, New York University School of Medicine, New York, NY, United States of America
- Haskins Laboratories, New Haven, CT, United States of America
- Department of Genetics, Yale University of Medicine, New Haven, CT, United States of America
| | - Daniel Calbick
- Department of Genetics, Yale University of Medicine, New Haven, CT, United States of America
| | - David McCormick
- Institute of Neuroscience, University of Oregon, Eugene, OR, United States of America
- Department of Biology, University of Oregon, Eugene, OR, United States of America
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25
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Burke K, Screven LA, Dent ML. CBA/CaJ mouse ultrasonic vocalizations depend on prior social experience. PLoS One 2018; 13:e0197774. [PMID: 29874248 PMCID: PMC5991354 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0197774] [Citation(s) in RCA: 24] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/22/2018] [Accepted: 05/08/2018] [Indexed: 01/31/2023] Open
Abstract
Mouse ultrasonic vocalizations (USVs) have variable spectrotemporal features, which researchers use to parse them into different categories. USVs may be important for communication, but it is unclear whether the categories that researchers have developed are relevant to the mice. Instead, other properties such as the number, rate, peak frequency, or bandwidth of the vocalizations may be important cues that the mice are using to interpret the nature of the social interaction. To investigate this, a comprehensive catalog of the USVs that mice are producing across different social contexts must be created. Forty male and female adult CBA/CaJ mice were recorded in isolation for five minutes following either a one-hour period of isolation or an exposure to a same- or opposite-sex mouse. Vocalizations were separated into nine categories based on the frequency composition of each USV. Additionally, USVs were quantified based on the bandwidth, duration, peak frequency, total number, and proportion of vocalizations produced. Results indicate that mice differentially produce their vocalizations across social encounters. There were significant differences in the number of USVs that mice produce across exposure conditions, the proportional probability of producing the different categories of USVs across sex and conditions, and the features of the USVs across conditions. In sum, there are sex-specific differences in production of USVs by laboratory mice, and prior social experiences matter for vocalization production. Furthermore, this study provides critical evidence that female mice probably produce vocalizations in opposite-sex interactions, which is important because this is an often overlooked variable in mouse communication research.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kali Burke
- Department of Psychology, University at Buffalo, SUNY, Buffalo, New York, United States of America
| | - Laurel A. Screven
- Department of Psychology, University at Buffalo, SUNY, Buffalo, New York, United States of America
| | - Micheal L. Dent
- Department of Psychology, University at Buffalo, SUNY, Buffalo, New York, United States of America
- * E-mail:
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26
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Felix RA, Gourévitch B, Portfors CV. Subcortical pathways: Towards a better understanding of auditory disorders. Hear Res 2018; 362:48-60. [PMID: 29395615 PMCID: PMC5911198 DOI: 10.1016/j.heares.2018.01.008] [Citation(s) in RCA: 37] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/28/2017] [Revised: 12/11/2017] [Accepted: 01/16/2018] [Indexed: 01/13/2023]
Abstract
Hearing loss is a significant problem that affects at least 15% of the population. This percentage, however, is likely significantly higher because of a variety of auditory disorders that are not identifiable through traditional tests of peripheral hearing ability. In these disorders, individuals have difficulty understanding speech, particularly in noisy environments, even though the sounds are loud enough to hear. The underlying mechanisms leading to such deficits are not well understood. To enable the development of suitable treatments to alleviate or prevent such disorders, the affected processing pathways must be identified. Historically, mechanisms underlying speech processing have been thought to be a property of the auditory cortex and thus the study of auditory disorders has largely focused on cortical impairments and/or cognitive processes. As we review here, however, there is strong evidence to suggest that, in fact, deficits in subcortical pathways play a significant role in auditory disorders. In this review, we highlight the role of the auditory brainstem and midbrain in processing complex sounds and discuss how deficits in these regions may contribute to auditory dysfunction. We discuss current research with animal models of human hearing and then consider human studies that implicate impairments in subcortical processing that may contribute to auditory disorders.
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Affiliation(s)
- Richard A Felix
- School of Biological Sciences and Integrative Physiology and Neuroscience, Washington State University, Vancouver, WA, USA
| | - Boris Gourévitch
- Unité de Génétique et Physiologie de l'Audition, UMRS 1120 INSERM, Institut Pasteur, Université Pierre et Marie Curie, F-75015, Paris, France; CNRS, France
| | - Christine V Portfors
- School of Biological Sciences and Integrative Physiology and Neuroscience, Washington State University, Vancouver, WA, USA.
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27
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Kobrina A, Toal KL, Dent ML. Intensity difference limens in adult CBA/CaJ mice (Mus musculus). Behav Processes 2018; 148:46-48. [PMID: 29341905 PMCID: PMC5807135 DOI: 10.1016/j.beproc.2018.01.009] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/03/2017] [Revised: 01/11/2018] [Accepted: 01/12/2018] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
Abstract
Mice have emerged as important models of auditory perception and acoustic communication. To study and model complex sound perception and communication, basic hearing abilities have to be established, yet intensity difference limens have not been measured in CBA/CaJ mice. Nine mice were trained using operant conditioning procedures with positive reinforcement to discriminate sound intensity across frequencies. Intensity difference limens were measured for 12, 16, 24, and 42 kHz tones at 10 and 30 dB sensation levels. Mice are capable of discriminating intensities across frequencies and sensation levels, but have higher intensity difference limens (IDLs) thresholds than other mammals.
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Affiliation(s)
- Anastasiya Kobrina
- B76 Park Hall, Department of Psychology, University at Buffalo SUNY, Buffalo, NY 14260, United States.
| | - Katrina L Toal
- B76 Park Hall, Department of Psychology, University at Buffalo SUNY, Buffalo, NY 14260, United States.
| | - Micheal L Dent
- B76 Park Hall, Department of Psychology, University at Buffalo SUNY, Buffalo, NY 14260, United States.
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29
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Keesom SM, Sloss BG, Erbowor-Becksen Z, Hurley LM. Social experience alters socially induced serotonergic fluctuations in the inferior colliculus. J Neurophysiol 2017; 118:3230-3241. [DOI: 10.1152/jn.00431.2017] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/09/2017] [Revised: 08/24/2017] [Accepted: 08/25/2017] [Indexed: 12/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Past social experience and current social context shape the responses of animals to social signals. The serotonergic system is one potential mechanism by which both experiential and contextual factors could be conveyed to sensory systems, such as the auditory system, for multiple reasons. 1) Many features of the serotonergic system are sensitive to social experience. 2) Elevations in serotonergic activity are triggered by social partners, and variations in socially triggered serotonergic responses reflect behavioral differences among social encounters. 3) Serotonin is an auditory neuromodulator, altering how auditory neurons respond to sounds including conspecific vocalizations. In this study, we tested how social experience influences the socially triggered serotonergic response in the inferior colliculus, an auditory midbrain region with an important role in vocalization processing. We used carbon fiber voltammetry to measure serotonin during social interactions of male mice ( Mus musculus) from different social backgrounds: 4 weeks of grouped or individual housing. When paired with an unfamiliar male, both group-housed and individually housed males demonstrated elevations in serotonin; however, individually housed males exhibited socially triggered serotonergic responses with delayed time courses compared with the group-housed males. Furthermore, group-housed males displayed previously described correlations between the socially triggered serotonergic response and behaviors such as social investigation. In contrast, individually housed males did not show these serotonin-behavior relationships. These results suggest that social experience gained via social housing may shape the ability of the central serotonergic system to encode social context in sensory regions. NEW & NOTEWORTHY We demonstrate that past social experience influences the fidelity with which the serotonergic system represents social context in an auditory region. Social experience altered the time course of socially triggered serotonergic responses and changed how the serotonergic system reflects behavioral variations among social encounters of the same context. These findings are significant to the study of communication, suggesting that centralized neuromodulatory systems potentially convey integrated information regarding past experience and current context to primary sensory regions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sarah M. Keesom
- Department of Biology, Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana
| | | | | | - Laura M. Hurley
- Department of Biology, Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana
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30
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MUPET-Mouse Ultrasonic Profile ExTraction: A Signal Processing Tool for Rapid and Unsupervised Analysis of Ultrasonic Vocalizations. Neuron 2017; 94:465-485.e5. [PMID: 28472651 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuron.2017.04.005] [Citation(s) in RCA: 88] [Impact Index Per Article: 12.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/02/2015] [Revised: 07/04/2016] [Accepted: 04/04/2017] [Indexed: 12/26/2022]
Abstract
Vocalizations play a significant role in social communication across species. Analyses in rodents have used a limited number of spectro-temporal measures to compare ultrasonic vocalizations (USVs), which limits the ability to address repertoire complexity in the context of behavioral states. Using an automated and unsupervised signal processing approach, we report the development of MUPET (Mouse Ultrasonic Profile ExTraction) software, an open-access MATLAB tool that provides data-driven, high-throughput analyses of USVs. MUPET measures, learns, and compares syllable types and provides an automated time stamp of syllable events. Using USV data from a large mouse genetic reference panel and open-source datasets produced in different social contexts, MUPET analyzes the fine details of syllable production and repertoire use. MUPET thus serves as a new tool for USV repertoire analyses, with the capability to be adapted for use with other species.
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Zala SM, Reitschmidt D, Noll A, Balazs P, Penn DJ. Automatic mouse ultrasound detector (A-MUD): A new tool for processing rodent vocalizations. PLoS One 2017; 12:e0181200. [PMID: 28727808 PMCID: PMC5519055 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0181200] [Citation(s) in RCA: 19] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/14/2017] [Accepted: 06/26/2017] [Indexed: 11/19/2022] Open
Abstract
House mice (Mus musculus) emit complex ultrasonic vocalizations (USVs) during social and sexual interactions, which have features similar to bird song (i.e., they are composed of several different types of syllables, uttered in succession over time to form a pattern of sequences). Manually processing complex vocalization data is time-consuming and potentially subjective, and therefore, we developed an algorithm that automatically detects mouse ultrasonic vocalizations (Automatic Mouse Ultrasound Detector or A-MUD). A-MUD is a script that runs on STx acoustic software (S_TOOLS-STx version 4.2.2), which is free for scientific use. This algorithm improved the efficiency of processing USV files, as it was 4-12 times faster than manual segmentation, depending upon the size of the file. We evaluated A-MUD error rates using manually segmented sound files as a 'gold standard' reference, and compared them to a commercially available program. A-MUD had lower error rates than the commercial software, as it detected significantly more correct positives, and fewer false positives and false negatives. The errors generated by A-MUD were mainly false negatives, rather than false positives. This study is the first to systematically compare error rates for automatic ultrasonic vocalization detection methods, and A-MUD and subsequent versions will be made available for the scientific community.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sarah M. Zala
- Konrad Lorenz Institute of Ethology, Department of Integrative Biology and Evolution, University of Veterinary Medicine, Vienna, Austria
- * E-mail:
| | - Doris Reitschmidt
- Konrad Lorenz Institute of Ethology, Department of Integrative Biology and Evolution, University of Veterinary Medicine, Vienna, Austria
| | - Anton Noll
- Acoustic Research Institute, Austrian Academy of Sciences, Vienna, Austria
| | - Peter Balazs
- Acoustic Research Institute, Austrian Academy of Sciences, Vienna, Austria
| | - Dustin J. Penn
- Konrad Lorenz Institute of Ethology, Department of Integrative Biology and Evolution, University of Veterinary Medicine, Vienna, Austria
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Heckman JJ, Proville R, Heckman GJ, Azarfar A, Celikel T, Englitz B. High-precision spatial localization of mouse vocalizations during social interaction. Sci Rep 2017; 7:3017. [PMID: 28592832 PMCID: PMC5462771 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-017-02954-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 41] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/06/2016] [Accepted: 05/02/2017] [Indexed: 02/06/2023] Open
Abstract
Mice display a wide repertoire of vocalizations that varies with age, sex, and context. Especially during courtship, mice emit ultrasonic vocalizations (USVs) of high complexity, whose detailed structure is poorly understood. As animals of both sexes vocalize, the study of social vocalizations requires attributing single USVs to individuals. The state-of-the-art in sound localization for USVs allows spatial localization at centimeter resolution, however, animals interact at closer ranges, involving tactile, snout-snout exploration. Hence, improved algorithms are required to reliably assign USVs. We develop multiple solutions to USV localization, and derive an analytical solution for arbitrary vertical microphone positions. The algorithms are compared on wideband acoustic noise and single mouse vocalizations, and applied to social interactions with optically tracked mouse positions. A novel, (frequency) envelope weighted generalised cross-correlation outperforms classical cross-correlation techniques. It achieves a median error of ~1.4 mm for noise and ~4–8.5 mm for vocalizations. Using this algorithms in combination with a level criterion, we can improve the assignment for interacting mice. We report significant differences in mean USV properties between CBA mice of different sexes during social interaction. Hence, the improved USV attribution to individuals lays the basis for a deeper understanding of social vocalizations, in particular sequences of USVs.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jesse J Heckman
- Department of Neurophysiology, Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, Radboud University, Nijmegen, The Netherlands
| | - Rémi Proville
- Department of Neurophysiology, Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, Radboud University, Nijmegen, The Netherlands
| | - Gert J Heckman
- Department of Mathematics, Institute for Mathematics, Astrophysics and Particle Physics, Radboud University, Nijmegen, The Netherlands
| | - Alireza Azarfar
- Department of Neurophysiology, Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, Radboud University, Nijmegen, The Netherlands
| | - Tansu Celikel
- Department of Neurophysiology, Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, Radboud University, Nijmegen, The Netherlands
| | - Bernhard Englitz
- Department of Neurophysiology, Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, Radboud University, Nijmegen, The Netherlands.
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Chabout J, Jones-Macopson J, Jarvis ED. Eliciting and Analyzing Male Mouse Ultrasonic Vocalization (USV) Songs. J Vis Exp 2017. [PMID: 28518074 PMCID: PMC5607930 DOI: 10.3791/54137] [Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/01/2023] Open
Abstract
Mice produce ultrasonic vocalizations (USVs) in a variety of social contexts throughout development and adulthood. These USVs are used for mother-pup retrieval1, juvenile interactions2, opposite and same sex interactions345, and territorial interactions6. For decades, the USVs have been used by investigators as proxies to study neuropsychiatric and developmental or behavioral disorders789, and more recently to understand mechanisms and evolution of vocal communication among vertebrates10. Within the sexual interactions, adult male mice produce USV songs, which have some features similar to courtship songs of songbirds11. The use of such multisyllabic repertoires can increase potential flexibility and information they carry, as they can be varied in how elements are organized and recombined, namely syntax. In this protocol a reliable method to elicit USV songs from male mice in various social contexts, such as exposure to fresh female urine, anesthetized animals, and estrus females is described. This includes conditions to induce a large amount of syllables from the mice. We reduce recording of ambient noises with inexpensive sound chambers, and present a quantification method to automatically detect, classify and analyze the USVs. The latter includes evaluation of call-rate, vocal repertoire, acoustic parameters, and syntax. Various approaches and insight on using playbacks to study an animal's preference for specific song types are described. These methods were used to describe acoustic and syntax changes across different contexts in male mice, and song preferences in female mice.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jonathan Chabout
- Department of Neurobiology, Duke University; Howard Hughes Medical Institute;
| | | | - Erich D Jarvis
- Department of Neurobiology, Duke University; Howard Hughes Medical Institute; The Rockefeller University;
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Finton CJ, Keesom SM, Hood KE, Hurley LM. What's in a squeak? Female vocal signals predict the sexual behaviour of male house mice during courtship. Anim Behav 2017. [DOI: 10.1016/j.anbehav.2017.01.021] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/25/2022]
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Keesom SM, Finton CJ, Sell GL, Hurley LM. Early-Life Social Isolation Influences Mouse Ultrasonic Vocalizations during Male-Male Social Encounters. PLoS One 2017; 12:e0169705. [PMID: 28056078 PMCID: PMC5215938 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0169705] [Citation(s) in RCA: 32] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/06/2016] [Accepted: 12/20/2016] [Indexed: 12/20/2022] Open
Abstract
Early-life social isolation has profound effects on adult social competence. This is often expressed as increased aggression or inappropriate displays of courtship-related behaviors. The social incompetence exhibited by isolated animals could be in part due to an altered ability to participate in communicatory exchanges. House mice (Mus musculus) present an excellent model for exploring this idea, because social isolation has a well-established influence on their social behavior, and mice engage in communication via multiple sensory modalities. Here, we tested the prediction that social isolation during early life would influence ultrasonic vocalizations (USVs) emitted by adult male mice during same-sex social encounters. Starting at three weeks of age, male mice were housed individually or in social groups of four males for five weeks, after which they were placed in one of three types of paired social encounters. Pair types consisted of: two individually housed males, two socially housed males, or an individually housed and a socially housed male (“mixed” pairs). Vocal behavior (USVs) and non-vocal behaviors were recorded from these 15-minute social interactions. Pairs of mice consisting of at least one individually housed male emitted more and longer USVs, with a greater proportional use of USVs containing frequency jumps and 50-kHz components. Individually housed males in the mixed social pairs exhibited increased levels of mounting behavior towards the socially housed males. Mounting in these pairs was positively correlated with increased number and duration of USVs as well as increased proportional use of spectrally more complex USVs. These findings demonstrate that USVs are part of the suite of social behaviors influenced by early-life social isolation, and suggest that altered vocal communication following isolation reflects reduced social competence.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sarah M. Keesom
- Department of Biology, Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana, United States of America
- * E-mail:
| | - Caitlyn J. Finton
- Department of Biology, Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana, United States of America
| | - Gabrielle L. Sell
- Department of Biology, Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana, United States of America
| | - Laura M. Hurley
- Department of Biology, Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana, United States of America
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Rieger MA, Dougherty JD. Analysis of within Subjects Variability in Mouse Ultrasonic Vocalization: Pups Exhibit Inconsistent, State-Like Patterns of Call Production. Front Behav Neurosci 2016; 10:182. [PMID: 27733819 PMCID: PMC5039195 DOI: 10.3389/fnbeh.2016.00182] [Citation(s) in RCA: 26] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/11/2016] [Accepted: 09/12/2016] [Indexed: 01/19/2023] Open
Abstract
Mice produce ultrasonic vocalizations (USV) in multiple communicative contexts, including adult social interaction (e.g., male to female courtship), as well as pup calls when separated from the dam. Assessment of pup USV has been widely applied in models of social and communicative disorders, dozens of which have shown alterations to this conserved behavior. However, features such as call production rate can vary substantially even within experimental groups and it is unclear to what extent aspects of USV represent stable trait-like influences or are vulnerable to an animal's state. To address this question, we have employed a mixed modeling approach to describe consistency in USV features across time, leveraging multiple large cohorts recorded from two strains, and across ages/times. We find that most features of pup USV show consistent patterns within a recording session, but inconsistent patterns across postnatal development. This supports the conclusion that pup USV is most strongly influenced by "state"-like variables. In contrast, adult USV call rate and call duration show higher consistency across sessions and may reflect a stable "trait." However, spectral features of adult song such as the presence of pitch jumps do not show this level of consistency, suggesting that pitch modulation is more susceptible to factors affecting the animal's state at the time of recording. Overall, the utility of this work is three-fold. First, as variability necessarily affects the sensitivity of the assay to detect experimental perturbation, we hope the information provided here will be used to help researchers plan sufficiently powered experiments, as well as prioritize specific ages to study USV behavior and to decide which features to consider most strongly in analysis. Second, via the mouseTube platform, we have provided these hundreds of recordings and associated data to serve as a shared resource for other researchers interested in either benchmark data for these strains or in developing algorithms for studying features of mouse song. Finally, we hope that this work informs both interpretation of USV studies in models of developmental disorder, and helps to further research into understanding the neural processes that contribute to the production and predictability of USV behavior.
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Affiliation(s)
- Michael A. Rieger
- Department of Genetics, Washington University School of MedicineSt. Louis, MO, USA
- Department of Psychiatry, Washington University School of MedicineSt. Louis, MO, USA
| | - Joseph D. Dougherty
- Department of Genetics, Washington University School of MedicineSt. Louis, MO, USA
- Department of Psychiatry, Washington University School of MedicineSt. Louis, MO, USA
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Screven LA, Dent ML. Discrimination of frequency modulated sweeps by mice. THE JOURNAL OF THE ACOUSTICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA 2016; 140:1481. [PMID: 27914389 PMCID: PMC6910002 DOI: 10.1121/1.4962223] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/29/2015] [Revised: 08/10/2016] [Accepted: 08/15/2016] [Indexed: 06/06/2023]
Abstract
Mice often produce ultrasonic vocalizations (USVs) that sweep upwards in frequency from around 60 to around 80 kHz and downwards in frequency from 80 to 60 kHz. Whether or not these USVs are used for communication purposes is still unknown. Here, mice were trained and tested using operant conditioning procedures and positive reinforcement to discriminate between synthetic upsweeps and downsweeps. The stimuli varied in bandwidth, duration, and direction of sweep. The mice performed significantly worse when discriminating between background and test stimuli when the stimuli all occupied the same bandwidths. Further, the mice's discrimination performance became much worse for stimuli that had durations similar to those natural vocalizations of the mice. Sweeps composed of different frequency ranges and longer durations had improved discrimination. These results collected using artificial stimuli created to mimic natural USVs indicate that the bandwidth of the vocalizations may be much more important for communication than the frequency contours of the vocalizations.
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Affiliation(s)
- Laurel A Screven
- Department of Psychology, University at Buffalo, The State University of New York, Buffalo, New York 14260, USA
| | - Micheal L Dent
- Department of Psychology, University at Buffalo, The State University of New York, Buffalo, New York 14260, USA
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Kobrina A, Dent ML. The effects of aging and sex on detection of ultrasonic vocalizations by adult CBA/CaJ mice (Mus musculus). Hear Res 2016; 341:119-129. [PMID: 27579993 DOI: 10.1016/j.heares.2016.08.014] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/06/2016] [Revised: 05/16/2016] [Accepted: 08/25/2016] [Indexed: 11/16/2022]
Abstract
Mice are frequently used as animal models for human hearing research, yet their auditory capabilities have not been fully explored. Previous studies have established auditory threshold sensitivities for pure tone stimuli in CBA/CaJ mice using ABR and behavioral methodologies. Little is known about how they perceive their own ultrasonic vocalizations (USVs), and nothing is known about how aging influences this perception. The aim of the present study was to establish auditory threshold sensitivity for several USV types, as well as to track these thresholds across the mouse's lifespan. In order to determine how well mice detect these complex communication stimuli, several CBA/CaJ mice were trained and tested at various ages on a detection task using operant conditioning procedures. Results showed that mice were able to detect USVs into old age. Not surprisingly, thresholds differed for the different USV types. Male mice suffered greater hearing loss than females for all calls but not for 42 kHz tones. In conclusion, the results highlight the importance of studying complex signals across the lifespan.
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Affiliation(s)
- Anastasiya Kobrina
- Department of Psychology, University at Buffalo-SUNY, Buffalo, NY 14260, USA.
| | - Micheal L Dent
- Department of Psychology, University at Buffalo-SUNY, Buffalo, NY 14260, USA.
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Heun-Johnson H, Levitt P. Early-Life Stress Paradigm Transiently Alters Maternal Behavior, Dam-Pup Interactions, and Offspring Vocalizations in Mice. Front Behav Neurosci 2016; 10:142. [PMID: 27458353 PMCID: PMC4932116 DOI: 10.3389/fnbeh.2016.00142] [Citation(s) in RCA: 35] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/19/2016] [Accepted: 06/22/2016] [Indexed: 12/20/2022] Open
Abstract
Animal models can help elucidate the mechanisms through which early-life stress (ELS) has pathophysiological effects on the developing brain. One model that has been developed for rodents consists of limiting the amount of bedding and nesting material during the first postnatal weeks of pup life. This ELS environment has been shown to induce "abusive" behaviors by rat dams towards pups, while mouse dams have been hypothesized to display "fragmented care". Here, as part of an ongoing study of gene-environment interactions that impact brain development, we analyzed long observation periods of wild-type C57Bl/6J dams caring for wild-type and Met heterozygous pups. Met encodes for the MET receptor tyrosine kinase, which is involved in cortical and hippocampal synaptogenesis. Dams with limited resources from postnatal day (P)2 to P9 preserved regular long on-nest periods, and instead increased the number of discrete dam-pup interactions during regular off-nest periods. Immediately after dams entered the nest during off-nest periods in this ELS environment, pups responded to these qualitatively different interactions with an increased number of ultrasonic vocalizations (USV) and audible vocalizations (AV), communication signals that have been associated with aversive and painful stimuli. After returning to control conditions, nest entry behaviors normalized, and dams did not show altered anxiety-like or contextual fear learning behaviors after pup weaning. Furthermore, female mice that had undergone ELS as pups did not show atypical nest entry behaviors in control conditions in adulthood, suggesting that these specific maternal behaviors are not learned during the ELS period. The results suggest that atypical responses of both mother and pups during exposure to this ELS environment likely contribute to long-term negative outcomes in mice, and that these responses more closely resemble the effects of limited bedding on rat dams and pups than was previously suggested. Discerning how different early-life stressors mediate changes in maternal-pup interactions can help elucidate the mechanisms of ELS on brain development and behavior.
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Affiliation(s)
- Hanke Heun-Johnson
- Neuroscience Graduate Program, University of Southern CaliforniaLos Angeles, CA, USA
| | - Pat Levitt
- Institute for the Developing Mind, Children’s Hospital Los AngelesLos Angeles, CA, USA
- Department of Pediatrics, Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern CaliforniaLos Angeles, CA, USA
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Matsumoto YK, Okanoya K. Phase-Specific Vocalizations of Male Mice at the Initial Encounter during the Courtship Sequence. PLoS One 2016; 11:e0147102. [PMID: 26841117 PMCID: PMC4739514 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0147102] [Citation(s) in RCA: 51] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/22/2015] [Accepted: 12/29/2015] [Indexed: 12/11/2022] Open
Abstract
Mice produce ultrasonic vocalizations featuring a variety of syllables. Vocalizations are observed during social interactions. In particular, males produce numerous syllables during courtship. Previous studies have shown that vocalizations change according to sexual behavior, suggesting that males vary their vocalizations depending on the phase of the courtship sequence. To examine this process, we recorded large sets of mouse vocalizations during male-female interactions and acoustically categorized these sounds into 12 vocal types. We found that males emitted predominantly short syllables during the first minute of interaction, more long syllables in the later phases, and mainly harmonic sounds during mounting. These context- and time-dependent changes in vocalization indicate that vocal communication during courtship in mice consists of at least three stages and imply that each vocalization type has a specific role in a phase of the courtship sequence. Our findings suggest that recording for a sufficiently long time and taking the phase of courtship into consideration could provide more insights into the role of vocalization in mouse courtship behavior in future study.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yui K. Matsumoto
- Department of Life Sciences, Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, The University of Tokyo, 3-8-1 Komaba, Meguro-ku, Tokyo,153–8902, Japan
| | - Kazuo Okanoya
- Department of Life Sciences, Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, The University of Tokyo, 3-8-1 Komaba, Meguro-ku, Tokyo,153–8902, Japan
- * E-mail:
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Asaba A, Kato M, Koshida N, Kikusui T. Determining Ultrasonic Vocalization Preferences in Mice using a Two-choice Playback Test. J Vis Exp 2015. [PMID: 26381885 DOI: 10.3791/53074] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/20/2023] Open
Abstract
Mice emit ultrasonic vocalizations (USVs) during a variety of conditions, such as pup isolation and adult social interactions. These USVs differ with age, sex, condition, and genetic background of the emitting animal. Although many studies have characterized these differences, whether receiver mice can discriminate among objectively different USVs and show preferences for particular sound traits remains to be elucidated. To determine whether mice can discriminate between different characteristics of USVs, a playback experiment was developed recently, in which preference responses of mice to two different USVs could be evaluated in the form of a place preference. First, USVs from mice were recorded. Then, the recorded USVs were edited, trimmed accordingly, and exported as stereophonic sound files. Next, the USV amplitudes generated by the two ultrasound emitters used in the experiment were adjusted to the same sound pressure level. Nanocrystalline silicon thermo-acoustic emitters were used to play the USVs back. Finally, to investigate the preference of subject mice to selected USVs, pairs of two differing USV signals were played back simultaneously in a two-choice test box. By repeatedly entering a defined zone near an ultrasound emitter and searching the wire mesh in front of the emitter, the mouse reveals its preference for one sound over another. This model allows comparing the attractiveness of the various features of mouse USVs, in various contexts.
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Affiliation(s)
- Akari Asaba
- School of Veterinary Medicine, Azabu University
| | | | - Nobuyoshi Koshida
- Division of Electric and Information Engineering, Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology
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Keesom SM, Rendon NM, Demas GE, Hurley LM. Vocal behaviour during aggressive encounters between Siberian hamsters, Phodopus sungorus. Anim Behav 2015. [DOI: 10.1016/j.anbehav.2015.01.014] [Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
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Fernández-Vargas M, Johnston RE. Ultrasonic vocalizations in golden hamsters (Mesocricetus auratus) reveal modest sex differences and nonlinear signals of sexual motivation. PLoS One 2015; 10:e0116789. [PMID: 25714096 PMCID: PMC4340904 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0116789] [Citation(s) in RCA: 21] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/24/2014] [Accepted: 12/16/2014] [Indexed: 11/29/2022] Open
Abstract
Vocal signaling is one of many behaviors that animals perform during social interactions. Vocalizations produced by both sexes before mating can communicate sex, identity and condition of the caller. Adult golden hamsters produce ultrasonic vocalizations (USV) after intersexual contact. To determine whether these vocalizations are sexually dimorphic, we analyzed the vocal repertoire for sex differences in: 1) calling rates, 2) composition (structural complexity, call types and nonlinear phenomena) and 3) acoustic structure. In addition, we examined it for individual variation in the calls. The vocal repertoire was mainly composed of 1-note simple calls and at least half of them presented some degree of deterministic chaos. The prevalence of this nonlinear phenomenon was confirmed by low values of harmonic-to-noise ratio for most calls. We found modest sexual differences between repertoires. Males were more likely than females to produce tonal and less chaotic calls, as well as call types with frequency jumps. Multivariate analysis of the acoustic features of 1-note simple calls revealed significant sex differences in the second axis represented mostly by entropy and bandwidth parameters. Male calls showed lower entropy and inter-quartile bandwidth than female calls. Because the variation of acoustic structure within individuals was higher than among individuals, USV could not be reliably assigned to the correct individual. Interestingly, however, this high variability, augmented by the prevalence of chaos and frequency jumps, could be the result of increased vocal effort. Hamsters motivated to produce high calling rates also produced longer calls of broader bandwidth. Thus, the sex differences found could be the result of different sex preferences but also of a sex difference in calling motivation or condition. We suggest that variable and complex USV may have been selected to increase responsiveness of a potential mate by communicating sexual arousal and preventing habituation to the caller.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Robert E. Johnston
- Department of Psychology, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, United States of America
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Yang M, Mahrt EJ, Lewis F, Foley G, Portmann T, Dolmetsch RE, Portfors CV, Crawley JN. 16p11.2 Deletion Syndrome Mice Display Sensory and Ultrasonic Vocalization Deficits During Social Interactions. Autism Res 2015; 8:507-21. [PMID: 25663600 DOI: 10.1002/aur.1465] [Citation(s) in RCA: 65] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/07/2014] [Accepted: 12/24/2014] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
Abstract
Recurrent deletions and duplications at chromosomal region 16p11.2 are variably associated with speech delay, autism spectrum disorder, developmental delay, schizophrenia, and cognitive impairments. Social communication deficits are a primary diagnostic symptom of autism. Here we investigated ultrasonic vocalizations (USVs) in young adult male 16p11.2 deletion mice during a novel three-phase male-female social interaction test that detects vocalizations emitted by a male in the presence of an estrous female, how the male changes its calling when the female is suddenly absent, and the extent to which calls resume when the female returns. Strikingly fewer vocalizations were detected in two independent cohorts of 16p11.2 heterozygous deletion males (+/-) during the first exposure to an unfamiliar estrous female, as compared to wildtype littermates (+/+). When the female was removed, +/+ emitted calls, but at a much lower level, whereas +/- males called minimally. Sensory and motor abnormalities were detected in +/-, including higher nociceptive thresholds, a complete absence of acoustic startle responses, and hearing loss in all +/- as confirmed by lack of auditory brainstem responses to frequencies between 8 and 100 kHz. Stereotyped circling and backflipping appeared in a small percentage of individuals, as previously reported. However, these sensory and motor phenotypes could not directly explain the low vocalizations in 16p11.2 deletion mice, since (a) +/- males displayed normal abilities to emit vocalizations when the female was subsequently reintroduced, and (b) +/- vocalized less than +/+ to social odor cues delivered on an inanimate cotton swab. Our findings support the concept that mouse USVs in social settings represent a response to social cues, and that 16p11.2 deletion mice are deficient in their initial USVs responses to novel social cues.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mu Yang
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, University of California Davis School of Medicine, Sacramento, CA, 95817
| | - Elena J Mahrt
- School of Biological Sciences, College of Arts and Sciences, Washington State University Vancouver, Vancouver, WA, 98686
| | - Freeman Lewis
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, University of California Davis School of Medicine, Sacramento, CA, 95817
| | - Gillian Foley
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, University of California Davis School of Medicine, Sacramento, CA, 95817
| | - Thomas Portmann
- Department of Neurobiology, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA, 94305.,Drug Discovery Program, Circuit Therapeutics Inc., Menlo Park, CA, 94025
| | - Ricardo E Dolmetsch
- Department of Neurobiology, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA, 94305.,Novartis Institutes for Biomedical Research, Cambridge, MA, 02139
| | - Christine V Portfors
- School of Biological Sciences, College of Arts and Sciences, Washington State University Vancouver, Vancouver, WA, 98686
| | - Jacqueline N Crawley
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, University of California Davis School of Medicine, Sacramento, CA, 95817
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Doran SJ, Trammel C, Benashaski SE, Venna VR, McCullough LD. Ultrasonic vocalization changes and FOXP2 expression after experimental stroke. Behav Brain Res 2015; 283:154-61. [PMID: 25644653 DOI: 10.1016/j.bbr.2015.01.035] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/09/2014] [Revised: 01/17/2015] [Accepted: 01/21/2015] [Indexed: 12/12/2022]
Abstract
Speech impairments affect one in four stroke survivors. However, animal models of post-ischemic vocalization deficits are limited. Male mice vocalize at ultrasonic frequencies when exposed to an estrous female mouse. In this study we assessed vocalization patterns and quantity in male mice after cerebral ischemia. FOXP2, a gene associated with verbal dyspraxia in humans, with known roles in neurogenesis and synaptic plasticity, was also examined after injury. Using a transient middle cerebral artery occlusion (MCAO) model, we assessed correlates of vocal impairment at several time-points after stroke. Further, to identify possible lateralization of vocalization deficits induced by left and right hemispheric strokes were compared. Significant differences in vocalization quantity were observed between stroke and sham animals that persisted for a month after injury. Injury to the left hemisphere reduced early vocalizations more profoundly than those to the right hemisphere. Nuclear expression of Foxp2 was elevated early after stroke (at 6h), but significantly decreased 24h after injury in both the nucleus and the cytoplasm. Neuronal Foxp2 expression increased in stroke mice compared to sham animals 4 weeks after injury. This study demonstrates that quantifiable deficits in ultrasonic vocalizations (USVs) are seen after stroke. USV may be a useful tool to assess chronic behavioral recovery in murine models of stroke.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sarah J Doran
- Departments of Neuroscience, University of Connecticut Health Center, Farmington, CT 06030
| | - Cassandra Trammel
- Departments of Neuroscience, University of Connecticut Health Center, Farmington, CT 06030
| | - Sharon E Benashaski
- Departments of Neuroscience, University of Connecticut Health Center, Farmington, CT 06030
| | - Venugopal Reddy Venna
- Departments of Neuroscience, University of Connecticut Health Center, Farmington, CT 06030
| | - Louise D McCullough
- Departments of Neuroscience, University of Connecticut Health Center, Farmington, CT 06030; Departments of Neurology, University of Connecticut Health Center, Farmington, CT 06030.
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Roubertoux PL, Carlier M, Tordjman S. Deficit in Social Relationships and Reduced Field of Interest in Mice. ORGANISM MODELS OF AUTISM SPECTRUM DISORDERS 2015. [DOI: 10.1007/978-1-4939-2250-5_14] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/15/2022]
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Holfoth DP, Neilans EG, Dent ML. Discrimination of partial from whole ultrasonic vocalizations using a go/no-go task in mice. THE JOURNAL OF THE ACOUSTICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA 2014; 136:3401. [PMID: 25480084 PMCID: PMC4257972 DOI: 10.1121/1.4900564] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/24/2014] [Revised: 10/03/2014] [Accepted: 10/14/2014] [Indexed: 06/04/2023]
Abstract
Mice are a commonly used model in hearing research, yet little is known about how they perceive conspecific ultrasonic vocalizations (USVs). Humans and birds can distinguish partial versions of a communication signal, and discrimination is superior when the beginning of the signal is present compared to the end of the signal. Since these effects occur in both humans and birds, it was hypothesized that mice would display similar facilitative effects with the initial portions of their USVs. Laboratory mice were tested on a discrimination task using operant conditioning procedures. The mice were required to discriminate incomplete versions of a USV target from a repeating background containing the whole USV. The results showed that the mice had difficulty discriminating incomplete USVs from whole USVs, especially when the beginning of the USVs were presented. This finding suggests that the mice perceive the initial portions of a USV as more similar to the whole USV than the latter parts of the USV, similar to results from humans and birds.
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Affiliation(s)
- David P Holfoth
- Department of Psychology, University at Buffalo, The State University of New York, Buffalo, New York 14260
| | - Erikson G Neilans
- Department of Psychology, University at Buffalo, The State University of New York, Buffalo, New York 14260
| | - Micheal L Dent
- Department of Psychology, University at Buffalo, The State University of New York, Buffalo, New York 14260
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Radziwon KE, Dent ML. Frequency difference limens and auditory cue trading in CBA/CaJ mice (Mus musculus). Behav Processes 2014; 106:74-6. [PMID: 24811450 DOI: 10.1016/j.beproc.2014.04.016] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/04/2014] [Revised: 04/24/2014] [Accepted: 04/28/2014] [Indexed: 11/25/2022]
Abstract
Mice are emerging as an important behavioral model for studies of auditory perception and acoustic communication. These mammals frequently produce ultrasonic vocalizations, although the details of how these vocalizations are used for communication are not entirely understood. An important step in determining how they might be differentiating their calls is to measure discrimination and identification of the dimensions of various acoustic stimuli. Here, behavioral operant conditioning methods were employed to assess frequency difference limens for pure tones. We found that their thresholds were similar to those in other rodents but higher than in humans. We also asked mice, in an identification paradigm, whether they would use frequency or duration differences to classify stimuli varying on those two dimensions. We found that the mice classified the stimuli based on frequency rather than duration.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kelly E Radziwon
- Department of Psychology, University at Buffalo, SUNY, B76 Park Hall, Buffalo, NY 14260, United States
| | - Micheal L Dent
- Department of Psychology, University at Buffalo, SUNY, B76 Park Hall, Buffalo, NY 14260, United States.
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