Neuroendocrine Mechanisms Regulating Adolescent Social Development

青春期是社交、情感和认知能力显著发展的时期。然而，这也是一个更容易受到心理健康障碍影响的时期，也是寻求为事故死亡和受伤发生率上升奠定基础的感觉增加的时期。这些行为变化伴随着荷尔蒙和大脑之间复杂的相互作用，一个主要的挑战是分析哪些神经和荷尔蒙因素对青少年的行为变化负责，哪些因素只是与它们重合。青春期青春期激素的激活是主要的候选因素。在这项研究项目中，引入了一种新的模型，它利用了一种季节性繁殖的仓鼠物种，对这种仓鼠来说，青春期的时间可以通过控制白天的长度来控制--出生和长大的仓鼠在长得像夏天的时候提前进入青春期，而那些出生在短的冬日长的仓鼠则将青春期推迟几个月，以防止在严酷的冬季繁殖。建议的实验使用这个模型来测试青春期荷尔蒙在青少年社会、行为和神经发育中的作用。这项研究将促进对神经和荷尔蒙因素的理解，这些因素既推动青少年的社会发展，也是这一生命阶段日益脆弱的基础。这个项目的另一个部分是首席调查员监督学生与布法罗动物园共同开展的一个推广项目，该项目旨在创建动物园夏令营，旨在激发儿童对科学的兴趣。纳入大学生参与，促进并提供科学推广和儿童早期科学教育方面的培训。该项目测试青春期激素在青春期行为和神经发育中的作用，重点关注青春期动物的主要社交行为--游戏行为，以及最近发现与青少年社会性发展有关的“社交”加压素(VP)途径。目标1的目的是确定青春期荷尔蒙在“社会”VP途径发展中的作用。它在仓鼠模型中的神经解剖发育正在通过免疫组织化学和原位杂交被发现。目标2用来确定“社会”VP路径调节游戏的投射。四个关键投射区域的作用正在通过特定部位的VP激动剂和拮抗剂的输注来测试，以确定这一途径如何调节社会发展。目标3涉及雌二醇在青春期早期行为中的作用的初步测试。在仓鼠模型中，使用酶免疫测定法来测量雌二醇水平，以确定日长是否影响幼年仓鼠的循环雌二醇水平。这项研究计划将开始绘制青春期依赖和青春期独立的神经回路，并指定它们如何相互作用来调节青少年的社会发展。这一奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Adolescence is a time of remarkable development in social, emotional, and cognitive abilities. However, it is also a time of increased vulnerability to mental health disorders and increased sensation seeking thought to underlie an elevated incidence of deaths and injuries from accidents. These behavioral changes are accompanied by complex interactions between hormones and the brain, and a major challenge is to parse out which neural and hormonal factors are responsible for adolescent behavioral changes and which merely coincide with them. Activation of pubertal hormones in adolescence is the primary candidate. In this research project, a new model is introduced that makes use of a seasonally-breeding hamster species, for which the timing of puberty can be controlled simply by manipulating day length -- hamsters born and raised in long, summer-like day lengths undergo puberty early, whereas those born in short, winter-like day lengths delay puberty by several months in order to prevent breeding during the harsh winter months. The proposed experiments use this model to test the role of pubertal hormones in adolescent social behavioral and neural development. This research will advance understanding of the neural and hormonal factors that both drive adolescent social development and underlie the increased vulnerability of this life stage. An additional part of this project is the principal investigator's oversight of a student-run outreach program with the Buffalo Zoo to create zoo camps designed to spark children's interest in the sciences. The inclusion of University student participation promotes and provides training in science outreach and early childhood science education. This project tests the role of pubertal hormones in adolescent behavioral and neural development, focusing on play behavior, the predominant social behavior in adolescent animals, and the 'social' vasopressin (VP) pathway, a pathway recently implicated in adolescent social development. The goal of Aim 1 is to determine the role of pubertal hormones in the development of the 'social' VP pathway. Its neuroanatomical development in the hamster model is being uncovered using immunohistochemistry and in situ hybridization. Aim 2 serves to determine the projections through which the 'social' VP pathway regulates play. The role of four key projection areas is being tested with site-specific infusions of a VP agonist and antagonist to determine how this pathway regulates social development. Aim 3 involves an initial test of the role of estradiol in early adolescent behavior. Estradiol levels are measured using enzyme immunoassay in the hamster model to determine whether day length impacts circulating estradiol levels in juvenile hamsters. This research program will begin to map puberty-dependent and puberty-independent neural circuits and specify how they interact to regulate adolescent social development.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.