The distribution of tyrosine hydroxylase in the canary brain: demonstration of a specific and sexually dimorphic catecholaminergic innervation of the telencephalic song control nuclei

Singing and the processing of auditory information related to song can be affected by experimental manipulations of catecholamine activity in the brain of zebra finches. We investigated, by immunocytochemistry in the brain of male and female canaries, the distribution of tyrosine hydroxylase (TH), the rate-limiting step in the synthesis of catecholamines. Fibers immunoreactive for TH (TH-ir) were particularly abundant in the lobus parolfactorius, the paleostriatum primitivum, and the nucleus septalis lateralis. A high density of TH-ir basket-like structures was observed in the caudomedial neostriatum, an area involved in song perception and recognition. In most males, a high density of TH-ir fibers outlined the telencephalic song control nuclei including the high vocal center, the nucleus robustus archistriatalis, the nucleus interfascialis, the lateral and medial parts of the magnocellular nucleus of the anterior neostriatum, and area X of the lobus parolfactorius. The higher density of fibers immunoreactive for TH in these nuclei, compared with the surrounding telencephalon, supports the notion that the morphological evolution of the song control nuclei was accompanied by a neurochemical specialization. This specific innervation of the song control regions was, in general, not found in females. The specific presence of high densities of TH-ir fibers in the song system of male canaries and the sex difference of this innervation provide anatomical evidence in support of the claim that dopamine and/or norepinephrine play important roles in the modulation of song learning and production.