Physiological Aspects of Teleost Oocyte Growth as Exemplified in Fundulus

东北地区自然产卵 佛罗里达盐沼与半月周期性在整个大部分的 年 此外，在每两周3至4天的产卵期间， 鳉鱼每天只在涨潮时产卵一次。 由于鳉鱼卵母细胞周期性地募集、生长和排卵， 作为准备这种产卵活动的卵，这种动物因此可以 是女性周期性生殖活动的极好模型。 垂体分泌的促性腺激素被认为直接 基本上调节所有的卵巢活动。 PI将净化 从鳉鱼脑垂体中提取促性腺激素， 抗体对抗他们。 然后，通过使用适当标记的 抗促性腺激素抗体，PI计划确定哪些细胞在 垂体合成并分泌每一种促性腺激素， 发生这种情况; PI也将能够测量促性腺激素水平， 并发现这些水平是否是恒定的， 骑自行车 这应该允许PI将每种类型的 促性腺激素与特定的卵巢事件。 还将研究特定的卵巢事件，以便更好地 了解卵巢的各种细胞如何应对循环 促性腺激素

The killifish, Fundulus heteroclitus, naturally spawns in Northeast Florida salt marshes with semilunar periodicity throughout most of the year. In addition, during the biweekly 3-to 4-day periods of spawning, killifish only spawn once each day coincident with the highest tide. Since killifish oocytes are periodically recruited, grown, and ovulated as eggs in preparation for this spawning activity, this animal can thus serve as a superb model for periodic female reproductive activity. Gonadotropins secreted by the pituitary are thought to directly regulate essentially all ovarian activity. The PIs will purify gonadotropins from killifish pituitaries so that they can prepare antibodies against them. Then, by using appropriately labeled antigonadotropin antibodies, the PIs plan to identify which cells in the pituitary synthesize and secrete each identified gonadotropin and when this occurs; the PIs will also be able to measure gonadotropin levels in the bloodstream and discover whether or not these levels are constant or cycling. This should allow the PI to correlate each type of gonadotropin with specific ovarian events. Specific ovarian events will also be studied in order to better understand how the various cells of the ovary respond to circulating gonadotropin.