Anyone who starts learning a new foreign language can attest: sensory stimuli like speech and song are near-continuous streams of complex sounds. With practice, listeners can learn to parse the meaning in streams of Mandarin or Stravinsky. Communication sounds that vary over the course of milliseconds (e.g., songs and speech) are optimally encoded by high-precision, low- jitter neuronal activity. The neurons that process and respond to complex, dense sound streams therefore exhibit fast and precise timing of action potentials. The spike timing of sensory neurons is also shaped by the current context, such as shifts in attention and changes in external or internal states. Mechanisms that account for this dynamic richness in our sensory and cognitive experience are becoming clearer. In the cortex, fast-spiking inhibitory interneurons are essential for coding and learning about sensory stimuli. The activity of fast-spiking interneurons is shaped by the moment-by-moment actions of neuromodulators like oxytocin, dopamine, serotonin, and catecholamines. These mechanisms can help explain how organisms assign different values of valence and salience to sensory stimuli depending on contexts like parenting, aggression, mating, and stress. A recently-discovered neuromodulatory system - the synthesis and action of ?neuroestrogens? within the brain - now holds a great deal of promise for deeper understanding of sensory processing and cognition. Estrogen treatments can ameliorate a variety of neurological disorders, including Parkinson?s disease, Alzheimer?s disease, and epilepsy. Yet because the neuromodulatory perspective of brain estrogen synthesis is relatively new, the therapeutic potential of neuroestrogen signaling itself is currently untapped. The research program in this proposal will unpack the specific contribution of ultraprecise, fast inhibitory interneurons to the modulatory actions of neuroestrogens in the cortex. We will test the hypothesis that neuroestrogens directly modulate fast spiking interneurons in the cortex to regulate spike timing precision and behavioral discrimination learning. The proposed projects will take advantage of recent molecular and technological advances to genetically target fast-spiking inhibitory interneurons. This work will therefore address a fundamental gap in our understanding of how estrogen production within the brain guides complex behavior, and could ultimately inform the development of highly-targeted estrogen therapies for cognitive and neurological disorders.

Public Health Relevance

Discoveries about how estrogens rapidly shape neural circuits and brain function will yield new information about the way estrogens can be optimized for the prevention and/or treatment of neurological disorders that have been linked to dysfunction in estrogen actions, such as Alzheimer?s disease, Parkinson?s disease, epilepsy, and dementia. Thus, the long-term goal of this research is consistent with the NIH mission to translate basic biomedical research outcomes into viable treatment strategies that can benefit millions of patients suffering from neurological disorders.

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS)
Type
Research Project (R01)
Project #
2R01NS082179-06
Application #
9755104
Study Section
Neuroendocrinology, Neuroimmunology, Rhythms and Sleep Study Section (NNRS)
Program Officer
He, Janet
Project Start
2014-04-15
Project End
2024-03-31
Budget Start
2019-04-15
Budget End
2020-03-31
Support Year
6
Fiscal Year
2019
Total Cost
Indirect Cost
Name
University of Massachusetts Amherst
Department
Psychology
Type
Schools of Arts and Sciences
DUNS #
153926712
City
Hadley
State
MA
Country
United States
Zip Code
01035
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Lee, Vanessa; Pawlisch, Benjamin A; Macedo-Lima, Matheus et al. (2018) Norepinephrine enhances song responsiveness and encoding in the auditory forebrain of male zebra finches. J Neurophysiol 119:209-220
Hedges, Valerie L; Chen, Gang; Yu, Lei et al. (2018) Local Estrogen Synthesis Regulates Parallel Fiber-Purkinje Cell Neurotransmission Within the Cerebellar Cortex. Endocrinology 159:1328-1338
Balthazart, Jacques; Choleris, Elena; Remage-Healey, Luke (2018) Steroids and the brain: 50years of research, conceptual shifts and the ascent of non-classical and membrane-initiated actions. Horm Behav 99:1-8
Vahaba, Daniel M; Remage-Healey, Luke (2018) Neuroestrogens rapidly shape auditory circuits to support communication learning and perception: Evidence from songbirds. Horm Behav :
Vahaba, Daniel M; Macedo-Lima, Matheus; Remage-Healey, Luke (2017) Sensory Coding and Sensitivity to Local Estrogens Shift during Critical Period Milestones in the Auditory Cortex of Male Songbirds. eNeuro 4:
Ikeda, Maaya Z; Krentzel, Amanda A; Oliver, Tessa J et al. (2017) Clustered organization and region-specific identities of estrogen-producing neurons in the forebrain of Zebra Finches (Taeniopygia guttata). J Comp Neurol 525:3636-3652
Moseley, Dana L; Joshi, Narendra R; Prather, Jonathan F et al. (2017) A neuronal signature of accurate imitative learning in wild-caught songbirds (swamp sparrows, Melospiza georgiana). Sci Rep 7:17320
Tuscher, Jennifer J; Szinte, Julia S; Starrett, Joseph R et al. (2016) Inhibition of local estrogen synthesis in the hippocampus impairs hippocampal memory consolidation in ovariectomized female mice. Horm Behav 83:60-67
Brenowitz, Eliot A; Remage-Healey, Luke (2016) It takes a seasoned bird to be a good listener: communication between the sexes. Curr Opin Neurobiol 38:12-7

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