Catecholaminergic connectivity to the inner ear, central auditory, and vocal motor circuitry in the plainfin midshipman fish porichthys notatus

Author Posting. © John Wiley & Sons, 2014. This is the author's version of the work. It is posted here by permission of John Wiley & Sons for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Journal of Comparative Neurology 522 (2014): 2887-2927, doi:10.1002/cne.23596.Although the neuroanatomical distribution of catecholaminergic (CA) neurons has been well documented across all vertebrate classes, few studies have examined CA connectivity to physiologically and anatomically identified neural circuitry that controls behavior. The goal of this study was to characterize CA distribution in the brain and inner ear of the plainfin midshipman fish (Porichthys notatus) with particular emphasis on their relationship with anatomically labeled circuitry that both produces and encodes social acoustic signals in this species. Neurobiotin labeling of the main auditory end organ, the saccule, combined with tyrosine hydroxylase immunofluorescence (TH-ir) revealed a strong CA innervation of both the peripheral and central auditory system. Diencephalic TH-ir neurons in the periventricular posterior tuberculum, known to be dopaminergic, send ascending projections to the ventral telencephalon and prominent descending projections to vocal–acoustic integration sites, notably the hindbrain octavolateralis efferent nucleus, as well as onto the base of hair cells in the saccule via nerve VIII. Neurobiotin backfills of the vocal nerve in combination with TH-ir revealed CA terminals on all components of the vocal pattern generator, which appears to largely originate from local TH-ir neurons but may include input from diencephalic projections as well. This study provides strong neuroanatomical evidence that catecholamines are important modulators of both auditory and vocal circuitry and acoustic-driven social behavior in midshipman fish. This demonstration of TH-ir terminals in the main end organ of hearing in a nonmammalian vertebrate suggests a conserved and important anatomical and functional role for dopamine in normal audition.National Institutes of Health; Grant number: SC2DA034996 (to P.M.F.); Grant sponsor: The Professional Staff Congress/ The City University of New York (PSC-CUNY); Grant number: 65650-00 43 (to P.M.F.); Grant sponsor: Leonard and Claire Tow Travel Award (to P.M.F.); Grant sponsor: Whitman Investigator Faculty Research Fellowships from the Marine Biological Laboratory, Woods, Hole, MA (where the study was partly conducted) (to P.M.F. and J.A.S.).2015-05-0

More-than-human participation: Design for sustainable smart city futures

In this forum we highlight innovative thought, design, and research in the area of interaction design and sustainability, illustrating the diversity of approaches across HCI communities. — Roy Bendor, Edito

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Catecholaminergic Innervation of Central and Peripheral Auditory Circuitry Varies with Reproductive State in Female Midshipman Fish, Porichthys notatus

In seasonal breeding vertebrates, hormone regulation of catecholamines, which include dopamine and noradrenaline, may function, in part, to modulate behavioral responses to conspecific vocalizations. However, natural seasonal changes in catecholamine innervation of auditory nuclei is largely unexplored, especially in the peripheral auditory system, where encoding of social acoustic stimuli is initiated. The plainfin midshipman fish, Porichthys notatus, has proven to be an excellent model to explore mechanisms underlying seasonal peripheral auditory plasticity related to reproductive social behavior. Recently, we demonstrated robust catecholaminergic (CA) innervation throughout the auditory system in midshipman. Most notably, dopaminergic neurons in the diencephalon have widespread projections to auditory circuitry including direct innervation of the saccule, the main endorgan of hearing, and the cholinergic octavolateralis efferent nucleus (OE) which also projects to the inner ear. Here, we tested the hypothesis that gravid, reproductive summer females show differential CA innervation of the auditory system compared to non-reproductive winter females. We utilized quantitative immunofluorescence to measure tyrosine hydroxylase immunoreactive (TH-ir) fiber density throughout central auditory nuclei and the sensory epithelium of the saccule. Reproductive females exhibited greater density of TH-ir innervation in two forebrain areas including the auditory thalamus and greater density of TH-ir on somata and dendrites of the OE. In contrast, non-reproductive females had greater numbers of TH-ir terminals in the saccule and greater TH-ir fiber density in a region of the auditory hindbrain as well as greater numbers of TH-ir neurons in the preoptic area. These data provide evidence that catecholamines may function, in part, to seasonally modulate the sensitivity of the inner ear and, in turn, the appropriate behavioral response to reproductive acoustic signals

Designing Transformative Futures

What makes the design of futures sufficiently transformative? Worldwide, people are aware of the need to change and keep changing to address eco-social challenges and their fall-out in an age of crises and transitions in climate, biodiversity, and health. Calls for climate justice and the development of eco-social sensibilities speak to the need for dynamic and provisional engagements. Such concerns raise age-old issues of inequality and colonialist destruction. Our designs carry the imprint of this current politics, wittingly or unwittingly, into worlds to come. This conversa- tion asked how might we respond fluidly to coming uncertainties, questioning our own practices to sow the seeds of more radical transformation, while recognizing the structural forces that can limit or temper opportunities for design activism. It was or- ganized in three quadrant exercises, which we also reflect upon

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