Endocrinology of a Viviparous Amphibian

胎生两栖动物的内分泌学

• 批准号: 9983020
• 负责人: Sunny Boyd
• 金额: $ 10万
• 依托单位: University of Notre Dame
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Continuing Grant
• 财政年份: 2000
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2000-10-01 至 2002-09-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=9983020&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Endocrinology; Viviparous; Amphibian

The ability to give birth to live young occurs in all classes ofvertebrates except cyclostomes and birds. In a unique order of tropicalamphibians, the caecilian amphibians, the majority of species give birth tolive young but the physiological mechanisms which control this process areunknown. It is proposed that fetal caecilian gills function as endocrineorgans and produce hormones similar to those produced by mammalianplacentas. Such structures have not been described in non-mammals. Thegoal of this project is to determine whether fetal caecilian tissuesproduce steroid hormones. The methods to be used include identification ofsteroid metabolites produced by tissues in vitro and localization ofenzymes known to function in steroid synthesis. Maternal steroid hormonelevels will be determined.These studies will provide the first information on steroid endocrinologyand the control of live- bearing for this order of amphibians. They willthus contribute substantially to understanding of reproductive biology andconservation of these unique animals and also to hormonal control ofpregnancy in other vertebrates.

除了圆口动物和鸟类，所有的脊椎动物都有生育活仔的能力。 在热带两栖动物中的一个独特的目- 有人认为，胎儿的无脊椎动物鳃具有内分泌器官的功能，产生的激素类似于胎盘产生的激素。 这种结构尚未在非哺乳动物中描述。 这个项目的目标是确定胎儿盲肠组织是否产生类固醇激素。 所用的方法包括体外组织产生的类固醇代谢物的鉴定和已知在类固醇合成中起作用的酶的定位。 这些研究将为类固醇内分泌学和控制该目两栖动物的生育提供第一手信息。 因此，他们将大大有助于了解生殖生物学和保护这些独特的动物，也激素控制怀孕的其他脊椎动物。