SGER: Ontogeny of GnRH Expression Vertebrate Neurons

促性腺激素释放激素（GnRH）是1971年从脑中分离出来的十肽。随着复杂抗体技术的发展，GnRH神经元网络被证明是一个复杂的异质系统，由三个或更多个离散的神经元群组成，跨越大脑的不同区域，包括嗅球和神经内的末梢神经神经节，基底前脑包括视前区，尾端间脑或中脑区域。此外，GnRH神经元投射到大脑内外的目标，同时充当激素和神经递质。它涉及控制行为生殖机制的神经内分泌特征的表达和维持。巴斯博士获得的探索性研究小额赠款将促进敏感和特定分子工具的开发，这将有助于为激素控制大脑和行为的性别分化的细胞和分子基础提供新的见解。他将完成特定物种GnRH cdna的序列分析和序列比较，作为研究大脑和行为的雌雄异体的模型。Bass博士将使用克隆cdna产生的反义核糖核酸转录物和原位杂交组织化学来鉴定具有不同生殖表型的幼年和成年动物大脑中新型GnRH转录物的表达模式和定量水平。这些新型敏感分子工具的开发将为这一新兴研究领域开辟新的途径。这项研究将有助于更好地理解GnRH在生殖成熟、生理和物种典型行为的基本机制中所起的作用。

Gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) is a decapeptide that was isolated from brain in 1971. With the development of sophisticated antibody technology, the GnRH neuronal network was demonstrated to be a complex, heterogenous system, comprising three or more discrete neuronal groups and spanning vastly different regions of the brain, including the ganglion of the terminal nerve within the olfactory bulb and nerve, the basal forebrain including the preoptic area, and the caudal diencephalon or midbrain region. Moreover, GnRH neurons project to targets within and outside the brain and serves as both a hormone and a neurotransmitter. It is implicated in controlling the expression and maintenance of neuroendocrinological traits underlying behavioral reproductive mechanisms. This Small Grant for Exploratory Research award to Dr. Bass will facilitate the development of sensitive and specific molecular tools which will be instrumental in providing new insights into the cellular and molecular bases for hormonal control of sexual differentiation of brain and behavior. He will complete the sequence analysis and sequence comparisons of cDNAs for GnRH in a specific species that serves as a model to examine intrasexual dimorphisms in brain and behavior. Dr. Bass will use the antisense ribonucleic acid transcripts generated from the cloned cDNAs and in situ hybridization histochemistry to identify the expression patterns and quantitate levels of novel GnRH transcripts in the brain of juvenile and adult animals with distinct reproductive phenotypes. The development of these new sensitive molecular tools will open up new avenues into this emerging research area. The research will lead to a better understanding of the role that GnRH plays in basic mechanisms underlying reproducive maturation, physiology and species-typical behaviors.