DOI: 10.5061/dryad.kh6f7
title: Data from: Distribution and abundance of glucocorticoid and mineralocorticoid receptors throughout the brain of the great tit Parus major

description: The glucocorticoid stress response, regulated by the
 hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis, enables individuals to cope
 with stressors through transcriptional effects in cells expressing the
 appropriate receptors. The two receptors that bind glucocorticoids—the
 mineralocorticoid receptor (MR) and glucocorticoid receptor (GR)—are
 present in a variety of vertebrate tissues, but their expression in the
 brain is especially important. Neural receptor patterns have the potential
 to integrate multiple behavioral and physiological traits simultaneously,
 including self-regulation of glucocorticoid secretion through negative
 feedback processes. In the present work, we quantified the expression of
 GR and MR mRNA throughout the brain of a female great tit (Parus major),
 creating a distribution map encompassing 48 regions. This map, the first
 of its kind for P. major, demonstrated a widespread but not ubiquitous
 distribution of both receptor types. In the paraventricular nucleus of the
 hypothalamus (PVN) and the hippocampus (HP)—the two brain regions that we
 sampled from a total of 25 birds, we found high GR mRNA expression in the
 former and, unexpectedly, low MR mRNA in the latter. We examined the
 covariation of MR and GR levels in these two regions and found a strong,
 positive relationship between MR in the PVN and MR in the HP and a similar
 trend for GR across these two regions. This correlation supports the idea
 that hormone pleiotropy may constrain an individual's behavioral and
 physiological phenotype. In the female song system, we found moderate GR
 in hyperstriatum ventrale, pars caudalis (HVC), and moderate MR in robust
 nucleus of the arcopallium (RA). Understanding intra- and interspecific
 patterns of glucocorticoid receptor expression can inform us about the
 behavioral processes (e.g. song learning) that may be sensitive to stress
 and stimulate future hypotheses concerning the relationships between
 receptor expression, circulating hormone concentrations and performance
 traits under selection, including behavior.
description: Great Tit Distribution
 Map All DataThis excel file contains
 all the data used in the following paper: "Distribution and abundance
 of glucocorticoid and mineralocorticoid receptors throughout the brain of
 the great tit (Parus major)." by Rebecca A. Senft, Simone L. Meddle
 and Alexander T. Baugh The sheets have titles describing their contents.
 The first is the distribution map for glucocorticoid and mineralocorticoid
 receptor expression in all regions of the brain in one female great tit,
 color-coded for expression level. The second contains the information for
 mineralocorticoid and glucocorticoid expression in the hippocampus and
 paraventricular nucleus of the hypothalamus across our population of 25
 individual great tits. Tables to the right break this information down by
 individual bird (instead of by image). The third sheet includes mean
 expression for the population, as well as some demographic
 variables.GT_DM_Data.xlsx