Disease relevance of Finches

• We found a significant increase in baseline and stress-induced plasma corticosterone concentrations in house finches without Mycoplasma symptoms in late winter; when the prevalence of Mycoplasma infection peaks [1].
• Chronic dietary toxicity of methylmercury in the zebra finch, Poephila guttata [2].

Psychiatry related information on Finches

• Sexual differentiation of brain and behavior in the zebra finch: critical periods for effects of early estrogen treatment [3].
• We sought to determine the influence of testosterone on social behavior, pair bonding, nesting, and use of space in captive zebra finch (Taeniopygia guttata) males as a function of breeding stage (pre-laying, incubation, and nestling phases) [4].

High impact information on Finches

• Male attractiveness and differential testosterone investment in zebra finch eggs [5].
• Canaries appear to lack the protein, but it can be induced in female zebra finches by early estrogen treatment [6].
• Using a double-labeling technique to characterize projection neurons and androgen target cells, we examined ontogenetic changes in the cellular composition of IMAN, a forebrain nucleus that plays an important role in song learning during a restricted period of male zebra finch development [7].
• Cdc31p was also able to bind to the carboxy terminus of Nuflp/Spc110p, another component of the SPB (Kilmartin, J. V., S. L. Dyos, D. Kershaw, and J. T. Finch. 1993. J. Cell Biol. 123:1175-1184) [8].
• Tetrahedra are similar in construction to the cubic octomers of clathrin recently found in ammonium sulfate solutions (Sorger, P. K., R. A. Crowther, J. T. Finch, and B. M. F. Pearse, 1986, J. Cell Biol., 103:1213-1219) but are still smaller, involving only half as many clathrin triskelions [9].

Biological context of Finches

• Antibody staining patterns in the zebra finch show that the protein's expression is developmentally regulated to coincide with the abrupt increase in the volume and cell size of the male's or the estrogen-treated female's song system [6].
• Using in situ hybridization, we detected a rapid increase in forebrain mRNA levels of an immediate-early gene encoding a transcriptional regulator (ZENK; also known as zif-268, egr-1, NGFI-A, or Krox-24) following presentation of tape-recorded songs to canaries (Serinus canaria) and zebra finches (Taeniopygia guttata) [10].
• As a first step toward determining whether rates of neuron production may be different in males and females, tritiated thymidine, a marker of cell division, was administered to zebra finches at various times during the first month after hatching [11].
• Dehydroepiandrosterone metabolism by 3beta-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase/Delta5-Delta4 isomerase in adult zebra finch brain: sex difference and rapid effect of stress [12].
• Competition experiments with various indols and IMEL showed that the IMEL binding site in the zebra finch brain has properties similar to the high-affinity melatonin receptor described in the chicken, in the house sparrow, and in the mammalian brain and retina [13].

Anatomical context of Finches

• We report here that neurons in two nuclei of the AFP, the lateral magnocellular nucleus of the anterior neostriatum (LMAN) and Area X, show marked changes in neurophysiological activity before and during singing in adult zebra finches [14].
• Interactions between nerve growth factor binding and estradiol in early development of the zebra finch telencephalon [15].
• We implanted female zebra finch nestlings 10-13 days old with Silastic pellets containing approximately 2 micrograms EB at one of several sites: near the higher vocal center (HVC), in the brain distant from HVC, or in the periphery either under the skin of the breast or in the peritoneal cavity [16].
• Tamoxifen fails to block estradiol accumulation, yet is weakly accumulated by the juvenile zebra finch anterior hypothalamus: an autoradiographic study [17].
• Influence of pinealectomy and pineal stalk deflection on circadian gastrointestinal tract melatonin rhythms in zebra finches (Taeniopygia guttata) [18].

Associations of Finches with chemical compounds

• Since there appears to be no other significant source of estrogen synthesis in adult male zebra finches, it is likely that the brain directly controls plasma levels of this steroid by contributing most or all of the high levels of estrogen found in the circulation [19].
• I used radioimmunoassay to measure the amounts of androstenedione, 5 alpha-dihydrotestosterone, testosterone, 17 beta-estradiol, and corticosterone in the yolk of freshly laid canary (Serinus canaria) and zebra finch (Poephila guttata) eggs [20].
• Administration of testosterone (T), 17 beta-estradiol (E2), or 5 alpha-dihydrotestosterone (DHT) to female zebra finch chicks (Poephila guttata) at hatching exerts effects on brain sexual differentiation [21].
• To understand the circuits that underlie these complex properties, the combination sensitivity of single units in the hyperstriatum ventrale, pars caudale (HVc) of urethane-anesthetized zebra finches was studied [22].
• Newly hatched female zebra finches received either estradiol (E2) or cholesterol (Ch) [23].

Gene context of Finches

• Carboxy-terminally truncated human alpha-synuclein (1-87) and (1-120) showed the fastest rates of assembly, followed by human A53T alpha-synuclein, and rat and zebra finch alpha-synuclein [24].
• Work in the zebra finch has demonstrated ARO expression adjacent to but not in the HVC [25].
• During song learning in zebra finches, NMDAR currents become faster, and transcripts for the modulatory NR2B subunit of this receptor decrease in lMAN, a region in which NMDAR activation is critical for vocal learning [26].
• Cyclic AMP phosphodiesterases in the zebra finch: distribution, cloning and characterization of a PDE4B homolog [27].
• In situ hybridization of tissue sections demonstrated that PDE4 message was distributed widely throughout the adult zebra finch brain, including regions controlling the learning of songs and the acquisition of spatial memories [27].

Analytical, diagnostic and therapeutic context of Finches

• Castration of adult male zebra finches or neonatal canaries results in a lowering of syringeal weight and CAT and AChE activity [28].
• We assessed spatio-temporal expression of tenascin and janusin by immunocytochemistry in testosterone-treated zebra finches and in untreated controls [29].
• Ovariectomy of female zebra finches and canaries does not affect these syringeal parameters, but T administration to ovariectomized females for 1 month increases syringeal weight and AChE activity [28].
• Molecular cloning of major histocompatibility complex class II B gene cDNA from the Bengalese finch Lonchura striata [30].
• Acetic acid extracts of the quail and finch brains were respectively forced through disposable C-18 reversed-phase cartridges, and then the retained material was subjected to the cation-exchange and reversed-phase high performance liquid chromatographic (HPLC) purifications [31].

References