Estrogen Synthesis in Brain and its Functional Role

施林格9602139，人们普遍认为性腺类固醇激素对发育中的大脑和成人中枢神经系统的功能有深远的影响。有趣的是，在许多物种的雄性和雌性中，雌激素都发挥了一些最戏剧性的作用。然而，雌激素如何到达雌激素敏感的大脑区域并不总是很清楚，也不清楚雌激素是如何影响神经元的生长或功能的。在某些物种的大脑中，有一个非凡的神经回路，它控制着生物体在发育过程中的学习能力，并将学习到的信息转化为成年后的行为。雌激素与早期发育中这种回路的初始生长、学习的神经机制和成人行为的激活有关。所有的雌激素都来自雄激素，这是一种由芳香酶催化的反应。在男性中，循环中的雄激素在大脑中局部转化为雌激素。正是这些雌激素使发育中的大脑男性化，然后激活成年男性的大脑功能。在一些物种中，芳香酶存在于学习的神经回路中，这可能与雌激素对学习的影响有关。施林格博士正在继续研究芳香酶和雌激素在雌激素依赖学习和行为中的作用，并将进行跨物种实验，以更清楚地描述雌激素的影响。通过阐明类固醇在大脑中的合成和功能特性，我们将更好地了解神经和内分泌系统的活动是如何协调调节神经功能的。此外，这些调查还提供了一种机制，进一步促进物种在自然环境中的生存，并更好地了解对野生繁殖至关重要的事件。

Schlinger 9602139 It is widely recognized that the gonadal steroid hormones have profound effects on the developing brain and on the function of the adult central nervous system. Interestingly, in both males and females of many species, estrogens exert some of the most dramatic effects. However, it is not always clear how estrogens reach estrogen-sensitive brain regions nor is it clear how estrogens act to influence neuronal growth or function. In the brain of some species, there is a remarkable neural circuit that controls the organism's ability to learn during development and to translate the learned information into behavior as an adult. Estrogens are implicated in the initial growth of this circuitry during early development, in the neural mechanisms underlying learning, and in the activation of adult behavior. All estrogens are derived from androgens, a reaction catalyzed by the enzyme aromatase. In males, circulating androgens are converted to estrogens locally in the brain. It is these estrogens that act to masculinize the developing brain and then activate masculine adult brain function. In some species, aromatase is present in the neural circuitry underlying learning, which may be associated with the effects of estrogen on learning. Dr. Schlinger is continuing his investigations into the role of aromatase and estrogen on estrogen-dependent learning and behavior, and will conduct cross-species experiments to characterize the effects of estrogen more clearly. By clarifying properties of steroid synthesis and function in brain, we will gain a better understanding of how activities of the neural and endocrine systems are coordinated in regulating neural function. In addition, these investigations provide a mechanism to further foster species survival in natural environments and gain a better understanding of events crucial to reproduction in the wild.