RUI: Thyroid Hormone Physiology in Adult Rat Brain

RUI：成年大鼠大脑中的甲状腺激素生理学

• 批准号: 0724962
• 负责人: Joseph Martin
• 金额: $ 41.54万
• 依托单位: Rutgers University Camden
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2007
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2007-08-01 至 2012-07-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0724962&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: RUI; Thyroid; Hormone; Physiology; Adult

The actions of thyroid hormones in brain were believed to be limited to effects on gene expression during the early developmental period, but new evidence has shown that thyroid hormones can influence the adult brain. The researchers at the Camden campus of Rutgers University have found specific effects of thyroid hormones in adult rat brain on several biochemical mechanisms other than gene expression. These and other data suggest a novel type of signaling function of thyroid hormones in the mature CNS. The key features defining a chemical signal in CNS include (a) a physiologically relevant variation in levels of the substance at the brain site of action and (b) the specific regulation of a cellular response leading to (c) functionally significant alteration(s) in brain activity. Since potential cellular responses have been identified earlier, current studies will relate temporal patterns of extracellular thyroid hormone concentration and metabolism in brain to circadian and sleep-related variables. Further studies will examine the effects of microinjection of thyroid hormones to sleep-related brain structures on electroencephalographic (EEG) measures of sleep. The results from these studies will therefore give insight into the physiological relevance of previously-demonstrated effects of thyroid hormones in adult mammalian brain, particularly with regard to regulation of sleep. The project will increase research opportunities for numerous undergraduates and masters students to ?learn by doing? in an interdisciplinary collaboration between Rutgers-Camden laboratories with strong track records in this area.

甲状腺激素在大脑中的作用被认为仅限于影响早期发育时期的基因表达，但新的证据表明，甲状腺激素可以影响成人的大脑。罗格斯大学卡姆登校区的研究人员发现，除了基因表达外，甲状腺激素对成年大鼠大脑的几种生化机制有特殊影响。这些和其他数据表明，甲状腺激素在成熟中枢神经系统中具有一种新型的信号功能。定义中枢神经系统中化学信号的关键特征包括(a)脑作用部位物质水平的生理相关变化和(b)导致(c)脑活动功能显著改变的细胞反应的特定调节。由于潜在的细胞反应已经被早期发现，目前的研究将把细胞外甲状腺激素浓度和大脑代谢的时间模式与昼夜节律和睡眠相关变量联系起来。进一步的研究将检验甲状腺激素微注射到与睡眠相关的大脑结构中对睡眠的脑电图（EEG）测量的影响。因此，这些研究的结果将深入了解甲状腺激素在成年哺乳动物大脑中的生理相关性，特别是在睡眠调节方面。该项目将为众多本科生和硕士生增加研究机会。从实践中学习？罗格斯-卡姆登实验室之间的跨学科合作在这一领域有着良好的记录。