Topic: FOXP2

Aim: Motor learning significantly impacts daily life, triggering notable changes in the primary motor cortex (M1) and basal ganglia (BG). Dopamine (DA) mediates these changes, with Darpp-32 playing a key role in DA transmission. Although extensively studied in the BG's striatum, Darpp-32's function in the motor cortex remains largely unexplored. This study aims to characterize Darpp-32 in motor cortices, examining cellular expression and its impact on motor behavior, synaptic and structural plasticity.Methods: Anatomical study: Using C57BL/6 mice, we examined Darpp-32 distribution across corti

Stimulation of the Periaqueductal Gray matter (PAG) and nucleus retroambiguus (nRA) evokes vocalization. nRA modulates the activity of laryngeal motoneurons located in the nucleus ambiguus (nA). We have demonstrated the involvement of rostral and ventral pontine structures in altering laryngeal caliber. A heightened expression of the FOXP2 protein was described in both PAG and pontine regions implicated in cardiorespiratory control.To investigate the interactions between the dlPAG and neurons of the nA assessing the double staining patterns of c-Fos/FOXP2 protein immunoreactivity (c-Fos-ir/FOX

Naked mole rats are highly vocal eusocial mammals, that rely heavily on vocal communication to form and maintain social groups. We are interested in researching how vocal development genes and neurogenesis markers are expressed in the naked mole rat brain at different developmental timepoints. Here we report preliminary data on immunohistochemical characterization of cortical expression of FOXP2 and Doublecortin in the naked mole rat brain. FOXP2, forkhead-box protein P2, is a transcription factor associated with speech and language. Doublecortin is a neurogenesis marker that shows newly gener

The transcription factor FOXP2 is a regulator of vocalization-, speech-, and language-related phenotypes in human and non-human species. The FOXP2 protein contains multiple domains including a DNA-binding forkhead domain, a zinc finger domain, a leucine zipper, and N-terminal polyglutamine (polyQ) repeats. We have recently found that the FOXP2 N-terminal polyQ region drives the liquid-liquid phase separation (LLPS) of the protein. FOXP2 LLPS is regulated by the evolutionary length variation of the polyQ repeats and has a role in modulating the transcriptional activity of the protein. The poten