Thursday, October 23, 2025 - 1 p.m. to 2 p.m.
Spaulding Hall
Please join us for the DBS Fall Seminar Series!
Dr. Luke Remage-Healey - University of Massachusetts
October 23rd, 2025 1:00PM - 2:00PM in Spaulding G25
Learning, cell-types, neuroestrogens, and modulation in the songbird auditory system
In vocal learning species, such as humans and songbirds, parvalbumin (PV) neurons are prominent in higher auditory pallial regions, where they are colocalized with the estrogenic enzyme aromatase. Here, we dissect the contributions of PV interneurons and neuroestrogen synthesis in parsing dense sound streams in songbird pallium. Viral targeting and optogenetic PV manipulations, combined with neuroestrogen manipulations, allow studies of precise temporal modulation. Local brain estrogen synthesis sculpts inhibition selectively onto excitatory neurons, and is important for auditory learning behaviors. These findings help refine a receptive field computational model that can account for many of the observed circuit behaviors. Thus, PV interneurons and aromatase neurons have key roles in the temporal dynamics of pallial sensory processing, and inform models of pallial circuit organization to unpack and memorize complex sound streams.
