Transsynaptic trophic effects of steroid hormones in an avian model of adult brain plasticity

- Adult avian song control system shows pronounced seasonal plasticity.
- Plasticity is regulated by testosterone (T) and its androgenic and estrogenic metabolites.
- T can act directly on neurons or transsynaptically by steroid interactions with neurotrophins.
- Transsynaptic trophic effects can be anterograde or retrograde.

The avian song control system provides an excellent model for studying transsynaptic trophic effects of steroid sex hormones. Seasonal changes in systemic testosterone (T) and its metabolites regulate plasticity of this system. Steroids interact with the neurotrophin brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) to influence cellular processes of plasticity in nucleus HVC of adult birds, including the addition of newborn neurons. This interaction may also occur transsynpatically; T increases the synthesis of BDNF in HVC, and BDNF protein is then released by HVC neurons on to postsynaptic cells in nucleus RA where it has trophic effects on activity and morphology. Androgen action on RA neurons increases their activity and this has a retrograde trophic effect on the addition of new neurons to HVC. The functional linkage of sex steroids to BDNF may be of adaptive value in regulating the trophic effects of the neurotrophin and coordinating circuit function in reproductively relevant contexts.