Mei-Fang Cheng
Professor I
Ph.D., Bryn Mawr College
Rutgers University, Psychology Department
101 Warren Street, Smith Hall Room 4-127
Newark, NJ, 07102
Phone: (973) 353-5440 x1828
Fax: (973) 353-1171
E-mail: mfc at (@) psychology.rutgers.edu
Research Interests
My lab is exploring the possible relevance of environmental sounds, including those emitted from an individual's own vocal behavior, to emotional state. Through our research, we have discovered that the brain region controlling vocal behavior and the regions processing auditory information are connected to the hypothalamus, the power house of endocrine control. The objective of our current research, involving the use of behavioral observation, neuronatomical tracing and immunohistochemical methods and electrophysiological studies of birds, is to demonstrate how pleasing sounds, such as courtship coos, are transcribed through the auditory relay to the hypothalamus which triggers the pituitary-ovarian response and brain opioid response. These studies represent a research foundation for future investigations into the brain mechanism of sounds, emotion and health.
Recovery of function following brain injury is one of today's most pressing health issues. While it is commonly held that unlike bodily systems, the brain of adult mammals is incapable of replacing neurons following injury because neurogenesis stops after birth, there is recent evidence to the contrary. Thus, the possibility has been raised that neurogenesis may play a role in brain repair. The objective of our research is to determine if lesions in discrete areas of the brain promote neuronal productions and whether this facilitates recovery of function. The hypothalamus of the ring dove provides a unique tool to pursue this issue. The adult hypothalamus contains acoustic units that control reproductive endocrine output and projection neurons that control courtship song. These neurons can be identified or measured by electrophysiological properties or by endocrine output or by neuronal tracing method. Replacement of these neurons therefore can be traced. Using tritiated thymidine and immunohistochemical stain for thymidine analogue (BrdU) and neuron-specific antibodies followed by laser confocal imaging analysis, we identify newborn neurons and seek to determine if neurogenesis is a viable alternative process for brain repair and potential therapeutic opportunity. We are also exploring the role of social context and steroid hormones in cell repair and recovery of function in the adult brain.
Selected Publications
A. On Neurobiology of vocal behavior
Cheng, M.F. (1992). For whom does the female dove coo? A case for the role of vocal self-stimulation. Animal Behavior, 43: 1035-1044.
Durand,S. Tepper, J. and Cheng, M.F. (1992). The shell region of the nucleus ovoidalis: A subdivision of the avian auditory thalamus. Journal of Comparative Neurology, 323: 495-518.
Cheng, M.F. and Zuo, M. (1994). Proposed pathways for vocal self-stimulation: metenkephalinergic projections linking the midbrain vocal nucleus, auditory-responsive thalamic regions and neurosecretory hypothalamus. Journal of Neurobiology, 25:361-379
Cheng, M.-F. and Peng, J.P. (1997). Reciprocal talk between the auditory thalamus and the hypothalamus: an antidromic study. Neuroreport. 6:7-10
Cheng, M.-F., Peng, J.P. and Patricia Johnson (1998). GnRH neurons preferentially respond to female nest coo stimulation: Demonstration of direct acoustic stimulation of luteinizing hormone release . Journal of Neuronscience, 18:5477-5489.
MF Cheng, C. Chaiken, M. Zuo, H.Miller (1999) Nucleus taenia of the amygdala of birds: Anatomical and functional studies in reing doves (Streptopelia risoria) and European starlingsw (Sturnus vulgaris). Brain Behavior and Evolution 53:243-270.
MF Cheng (2003) Vocal self-stimulation: From the ring dove story to emotion-based vocal communication. In In Advances in the Study of Behavior (eds. Peter L.B. Slater, Jay S Rosenblatt, CT Snowden, and T.J. Roper) Academic Press Vol. 33:309-353. [PDF]
MF Cheng, Sarah E. Durand (2004) Song and the Limbic Brain: A New Function for the Bird's Own Song. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences 1016: 611-627 [PDF]
Cheng, MF Audio-vocal pathways controlling GnRH release. In "Functional Avian Endocrinology" (Eds. Dawson A.& Sharp P) Narosa Publishing House. (in press)
B. On Adult Neurogenesis
Ling, C., MF Cheng (1995) Sex differences in cell proliferation in the ventricular zone of young ring doves. Brain Research Bulletin 37:657-662.
Ling, C., Alvarez-Buylla, A. and Cheng, M.F. (1997). Neurogenesis in juvenile and adult ring doves. Journal of Comparative Neurology, 379: 1-13
Cao J, K. Wenberg, MF Cheng (2002) Lesion induced new neuron incorporation in the adult hypothalamus of the hypothalamus of the avian brain. Brain Research943:90-92 [PDF]
Cheng, MF. JP Peng, G Chen, JP Gardner, E Bonder (2004) Functional restoration of acoustic units and adult-generated neurons after hypothalamic lesion. J Neurobiol 60:197-213. [PDF]
G Chen, E Bonder & MF Cheng (2006) Lesion induced neurogenesis in the hypothalamus is involved in behavioral recovery in adult ring doves. J. Neurobiol. 66: 537-551.