Social Regulation of Brain and Behavior

大脑和行为的社会调节

• 批准号: 0548567
• 负责人: Matthew Grober
• 金额: $ 49.25万
• 依托单位: Georgia State University Research Foundation, Inc.
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2006
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2006-08-01 至 2012-07-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0548567&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Social; Regulation; Brain; Behavior

Dramatic differences between the sexes are normally established early in development and remain fixed for life. However, in many fishes, reproductive function shows life-long plasticity, with sexual transitions occurring in response to varying social and life history conditions. By manipulating social group composition in bluebanded gobies (Lythrypnus dalli), one can predictably induce the establishment of dominance and subsequent sex change in a targeted female. This female exhibits a stereotyped sequence of behavioral, physiological and anatomical changes as she transforms into a male. One can use early behavioral indicators of dominance to examine the mechanisms that drive both increased social status and the initiation of sex change. Sex steroids have been implicated in the regulation of both of these processes, but gonadal production of sex steroids does not change in the early stages of sex change. However the vertebrate brain synthesizes sex steroids and these enzymatic processes can be down-regulated in minutes. The current project critically examines the relationship between changing social status, rapid regulation of neurosteroid pathways, and the initiation of sex change. Through the determination of brain steroid levels, the rates of enzymatic conversion of one steroid to another and observations of how the animals are behaving, one can determine the dynamic interactions between social and endocrine signals in regulating adult sex change. The evolution and development of sex differences is an area of fundamental importance for biologists and the results of this work will enhance our understanding of how social processes regulate reproductive behavior, anatomy and physiology. The resources of the Education directorate at the Center for Behavioral Neuroscience will be used to recruit women and minorities into the undergraduate and graduate training opportunities available through this grant and the PI has an outstanding record of mentoring women and minorities in scientific research.

两性之间的显著差异通常在发育早期就已形成，并终生保持不变。 然而，在许多鱼类中，生殖功能表现出终身的可塑性，性转变发生在不同的社会和生活史条件。通过操纵蓝斑虾虎鱼（Lythrypnus dalli）的社会群体组成，可以预见的是，诱导建立的优势和随后的性别变化的目标女性。这位女性在转变为男性时表现出一系列刻板的行为、生理和解剖变化。 我们可以利用支配地位的早期行为指标来研究推动社会地位提高和性别改变的机制。性类固醇参与了这两个过程的调节，但性腺产生的性类固醇在性别变化的早期阶段不会改变。然而，脊椎动物的大脑合成性类固醇，这些酶的过程可以在几分钟内下调。目前的项目批判性地研究了社会地位的变化，神经类固醇通路的快速调节和性别变化的开始之间的关系。 通过测定大脑类固醇水平、一种类固醇酶促转化为另一种类固醇的速率以及观察动物的行为，人们可以确定社会和内分泌信号在调节成年性别变化方面的动态相互作用。 性别差异的进化和发展对生物学家来说是一个至关重要的领域，这项工作的结果将增强我们对社会过程如何调节生殖行为、解剖学和生理学的理解。 行为神经科学中心教育局的资源将用于招募妇女和少数民族进入通过该赠款提供的本科生和研究生培训机会，PI在指导妇女和少数民族进行科学研究方面有着出色的记录。