SGER: PROGESTERONE AND SEXUAL DIFFERENTIATION OF BRAIN AND BEHAVIOR

SGER：黄体酮与大脑和行为的性别分化

• 批准号: 0528174
• 负责人: Barbara Fadem
• 金额: --
• 依托单位: Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey-RBHS-New Jersey Med
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Continuing Grant
• 财政年份: 2005
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2005-09-01 至 2008-02-29
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0528174&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: SGER; PROGESTERONE; SEXUAL; DIFFERENTIATION; BRAIN

In most adult mammals, the ability to demonstrate effective patterns of reproductive physiology and behavior is the result of exposure during fetal life to hormones such as estradiol and testosterone produced by the fetus' developing gonads. However, the mammalian fetus is also exposed to another hormone, progesterone, which is produced by the maternal ovaries and the placenta during pregnancy. The effects of this exposure are unclear at this time, but recent evidence suggests that progesterone may actually masculinize the brain and later impact behavioral responses. Marsupial mammals offer a unique opportunity to directly explore the effects of progesterone on fetal development. Because marsupial mammals are very premature at birth compared to other mammals, much of their early development takes place outside the body of the mother, in an environment that is relatively free of progesterone. Therefore, marsupials are particularly useful for the study of reproductive development. With this animal model the effects of progesterone can be tightly controlled and directly measured, in the absence of maternal hormonal influences. Gray short tailed opossums (Monodelphis domestica), small, gerbil-sized laboratory marsupials, will be used here to characterize the effects of progesterone on the development of masculine and feminine characteristics and behavior in mammals. Opossums will be exposed to different amounts of progesterone soon after birth. When they are adults their behavior will be observed and hormone levels in their blood will be measured. It is expected that early exposure to progesterone will decrease feminine hormonal and behavioral traits in adult animals. Progesterone has wide effects on reproductive processes and brain function. It is already known that progesterone maintains pregnancy, activates reproductive and parental behavior and affects learning and memory. The new researchin this project will further extend our understanding of the role of this important hormone as it impacts reproductive development. This project will also provide a wide range of unique training opportunities for undergraduate and graduate students with Dr. Harder at the Ohio State University (OSU) and with Dr. Fadem at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey (UMDNJ).

在大多数成年哺乳动物中，表现出生殖生理和行为的有效模式的能力是在胎儿生命期间暴露于由胎儿发育的性腺产生的雌二醇和睾酮等激素的结果。然而，哺乳动物胎儿也暴露于另一种激素，孕酮，这是由母体卵巢和胎盘在怀孕期间产生的。 这种暴露的影响目前尚不清楚，但最近的证据表明，孕酮实际上可能使大脑男性化，并随后影响行为反应。 有袋类哺乳动物提供了一个独特的机会，直接探讨孕激素对胎儿发育的影响。 由于有袋类哺乳动物在出生时比其他哺乳动物早产，它们的早期发育大部分发生在母体外，在一个相对不含孕酮的环境中。因此，有袋类动物对研究生殖发育特别有用。 使用这种动物模型，在没有母体激素影响的情况下，可以严格控制和直接测量孕酮的作用。 灰色短尾负鼠（Monodelphis arctica），小，沙鼠大小的实验室有袋动物，将在这里使用的特征孕酮对哺乳动物的男性和女性的特征和行为的发展的影响。负鼠出生后不久就会接触到不同数量的孕酮。当他们成年后，他们的行为将被观察，他们血液中的激素水平将被测量。预期早期暴露于孕酮将降低成年动物的雌性激素和行为特征。 孕激素对生殖过程和脑功能有广泛的影响。众所周知，孕酮维持妊娠，激活生殖和父母行为，影响学习和记忆。该项目的新研究将进一步扩展我们对这种重要激素作用的理解，因为它影响生殖发育。该项目还将为本科生和研究生提供广泛的独特培训机会，由俄亥俄州州立大学（OSU）的Harder博士和新泽西医学和牙科大学（UMDNJ）的Fadem博士提供。