Behavioral Actions of Neuropeptides

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Stress, aggression, and reproduction are examples of behaviors that are affected by steroid hormones. Recently, it has become clear that another class of hormones, called neuropeptides, have major effects on behaviors. Dr. Moore will investigate the mechanisms by which steroid hormones and neuropeptides interact in the brain to regulate behavior. He will employ modern anatomical and molecular techniques to determine the effects of gonadal steroid hormones on the neuropeptide, arginine vasotocin, in a simple amphibian model system. By quantifying vasotocin receptors in neurons, measuring vasotocin concentrations in behaviorally important brain areas, and determining the activity of vasotocin genes in individual brain cells, Dr. Moore will determine whether seasonal changes or sexual differences in the vasotocinergic system are associated with the behavioral state and whether gonadal steroid hormones that maintain reproductive behaviors influence this neuropeptide system. These studies are possible because of the reduced structural complexity of the amphibian brain in combination with their distinct stereotyped responses to neuroendocrine manipulations. Insights gained with this model system will lay the groundwork in understanding of the functional relationship between steroid hormones and neuropeptides in animals with much greater complexity.