Dopamine is a chemical in the brain that is important for learning and memory. Louisiana State University (LSU) Department of Biological Sciences Assistant Professor Christine Lattin, PhD, and colleagues conducted this study of wild songbirds showing that dopamine is important in responding to chronic stressors, which can help wildlife conservation efforts in response to environmental stressors such as habitat destruction, natural disasters, extreme weather events and increases in predation. Dr. Lattin, who is the lead author on the study published online on July 18, 2019 in Nature Scientific Reports, applied a biomedical imaging technology called Positron Emission Tomography (PET) scans, that are used commonly on humans but rarely on wild animals, to quantify dopamine receptors in house sparrows. The open-access article is titled “In Vivo Imaging of D2 Receptors and Corticosteroids Predict Behavioural Responses to Captivity Stress in a Wild Bird.”"This Study Is Exciting Because It Is The first time PET scans have been used in wildlife to quantify dopamine receptors in the brain. Developing this technique has opened the door to being able to scan animals and release them back into the wild," she said. "We need to know how these wild birds are coping with stressors and responding to changes to the environment so we can understand how to best protect them." In addition to the biomedical imaging, Dr. Lattin and colleagues tracked changes in the birds' body mass and hormone levels, and observed their behavior using a remotely operated video camera to study wild house sparrows' response to captivity over four weeks. The birds were scanned after being brought in to the lab and then again four weeks later. By using PET scans, the scientists were able to study how the stress of captivity affected the birds over time.Login Or Register To Read Full Story