Cholinergic signaling differentially regulates a vocal motor pallial nucleus to stabilize adult birdsong

ABSTRACT Cholinergic modulation plays an important role in motor skill performance, including vocal control. In songbirds, song motor nucleus RA simultaneously receives inputs from song nuclei HVC and LMAN, and then its projection neurons (RAPNs) generate song motor control output. Using electrophysiological and pharmacological methods, we found that cholinergic signaling can enhance song stability by reducing HVC-RAPN excitatory synaptic transmission in adult male zebra finches, mediated by mAChRs. Although nAChRs are not effective overall, cholinergic signaling can also decrease LMAN-RAPN excitatory synaptic transmission induced by electrical stimulation via nAChRs, suggesting the potential role of cholinergic regulation in song behavior through LMAN-RA pathway. On the contrary, in adult female zebra finches, only LMAN-RAPN synaptic transmission was reduced by cholinergic signaling via mAChRs. The role of differential cholinergic regulation of song premotor circuits in songbirds’ singing provides insights into the neural control mechanism of motor skill performance.