Behavioral Neurobiology of Stress Hormones

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IBN-9410284 James Rose In some amphibian species male courtship of females is rapidly suppressed by secretion of the steroid corticosterone in response to stressful environmental stimuli. This project will investigate the actions of stress-related steroid hormones on brain function and behavior. This species is uniquely valuable for study because its stress-sensitive reproductive behavior allows one to investigate two different actions of stress steroids on brain function: a rapid action that appears in a matter of minutes and a slowly-developing action that occurs across a period of hours. Studies of the behavior of the animal and of the electrical signals of the brain cells will help to identify the rapid and slow effects of several types of stress steroid hormones on the brain cells that control courtship behavior. The results of these studies have general significance because both rapid and slow brain effects of stress steroids are likely to be present in diverse species of animals. The findings should help to explain how environmental stressors act on the nervous system to impair reproduction in natural populations of animals and will provide a framework for understanding possible modes of stress steroid action on brain function in humans.