Biological Action of Gonadotropin-Releasing Hormone in Lampreys

这些研究是为了调查一种原始鱼类——海七鳃鳗——大脑中的激素如何控制生殖功能。这种激素是一种叫做促性腺激素释放激素（GnRH）的蛋白质。促性腺激素释放激素存在于所有脊椎动物的大脑中。这种激素通过刺激垂体激素的释放来调节生殖，而垂体激素反过来又刺激性腺的活动。自1971年确定哺乳动物GnRH的结构以来，已有超过5000种GnRH类似物被制成，并在数百项哺乳动物研究中进行了测试。类似物是GnRH蛋白分子的变体，具有不同的氨基酸取代，可以使GnRH成为更有效的激素或激素的拮抗剂。在哺乳动物中，使用各种哺乳动物GnRH类似物用于绝育、受孕和其他治疗用途已经取得了巨大成功。从事这项研究的科学家们已经确定了海七鳃鳗中GnRH的主要结构，并为其对垂体-性腺轴的调节作用提供了证据。本研究的目的是确定七鳃鳗GnRH的生物学效应。研究的长期目标是开发七鳃鳗GnRH类似物，作为五大湖地区雄性绝育放生计划中七鳃鳗绝育的替代方法。这是一个令人兴奋的可能性，因为这些化合物是蛋白质，易于合成，易于管理，易于在生物体内降解，并且对人体无毒。

These studies are to investigate how hormones from the brain of a primitive fish, the sea lamprey, control reproductive function. This hormone is a protein called gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH). Gonadotropin-releasing hormone is present in all brains of all vertebrates. This hormone regulates reproduction by stimulating the release of hormones from the pituitary which, in turn, stimulate activity of the gonads. Since 1971, when the structure of mammalian GnRH was determined, over 5000 analogs have been made to GnRH and tested in hundreds of studies in mammals. Analogs are variants of the GnRH protein molecule with different substitutions of amino acids that can either make the GnRH a more potent hormone or an antagonist to the hormone. In mammals there has been great success using various mammalian GnRH analogs for sterilization, conception and other therapeutic uses. The scientists who are doing this study have identified the primary structure of GnRH in the sea lamprey and have provided evidence for its regulatory influence on the pituitary-gonadal axis. The goal of the present studies are to determine the biological effects of lamprey GnRH. The long-term goal of the studies is to develop lamprey GnRH analogs as an alternative method for sterilizing lampreys in a sterile-male release program in the Great Lakes region. This is an exciting possibility because these compounds are proteins which are easy to synthesize, easy to administer, easily degraded within the organism, and non-toxic to humans.