D2 dopamine receptor activation induces female preference for male song in the monogamous zebra finch
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The evolutionary conservation of neural mechanisms for forming and maintaining pair bonds is unclear. Oxytocin, vasopressin, and dopamine (DA) transmitter systems have been shown to be important in pair-bond formation and maintenance in several vertebrate species. We examined the role of dopamine in formation of song preference in zebra finches, a monogamous bird. Male courtship song is an honest signal of sexual fitness; thus we measured female song preference to evaluate the role of DA in mate selection and pair-bond formation, using an operant conditioning paradigm. We found that DA acting through the D2 receptor, but not the D1 receptor, can induce a song preference in unpaired female finches and that blocking the D2 receptor abolished song preference in paired females. These results suggest that similar neural mechanisms for pair-bond formation are evolutionarily conserved in rodents and birds.
