INTEGRATION OF CHEMOSENSORY AND HORMONAL STIMULI

描述(根据申请者的摘要改编)：交配是一个复杂的过程 有动机的行为，其表达需要气味和 性腺类固醇。这些研究对于理解 对人类和动物复杂行为的调节，因为感官和 荷尔蒙刺激很少单独存在。取而代之的是，一种生物体 自然环境面临着来自其内部和外部的多重信号 外部环境，多模式融合的产物转变 这些刺激的个体特征产生了丰富的行为 回应。叙利亚仓鼠被用作这些研究的模型，因为 雄性交配依赖气味和荷尔蒙，而基本的 调节这种行为的神经回路是已知的。这些研究将 为荷尔蒙与化学感觉相互作用的不断增长的文献做出贡献， 调节生殖的视觉、营养和体感提示。 激素敏感的大脑区域的一个特征是密集的 含有类固醇受体的核之间的相互连接形成 荷尔蒙反应神经网络。这种网络结构具有深刻的 神经功能的类固醇调节的含义。1986年， Cottingham和Pfaff提出荷尔蒙反应的特性 神经网络可以包括冗余性、放大、稳定性和 选择性过滤类固醇提示以调节生殖，这些概念 可应用于类固醇控制雄性仓鼠性行为。 私家侦探的实验室最近确定气味和 交配需要荷尔蒙，《特定目标1》将调查 在大脑中，这是完成的。尤其是Aim 1A将使用 脑内植入睾丸素来测试假设 存在用于气味和荷尔蒙传输的分开的并行子电路， 荷尔蒙的次级回路在功能上是多余的。目标1B将 脑内植入物联合单侧嗅球切除术治疗 确定荷尔蒙提示与气味相结合的位置。这个 这意味着荷尔蒙起到了选择性过滤气味信号的作用 允许交配。《特定目标2》将检验多焦点理论 类固醇作用增强男性性行为通过多次植入 交配行为途径中的睾丸激素。最后，具体目标3将 通过倒数研究交配行为回路的稳定性 类固醇反应亚核的连接。

DESCRIPTION (Adapted from applicant's abstract): Mating is a complex motivated behavior whose expression requires the interaction of odors and gonadal steroids. These studies have relevance to understanding the regulation of complex behaviors in humans and animals because sensory and hormonal stimuli are seldom present in isolation. Instead, an organism in a natural setting is confronted with multiple signals from its internal and external environment, and the product of multimodal integration transforms the individual characteristics of these stimuli to produce a rich behavioral response. The Syrian hamster is used as a model for these studies because the male is dependent upon both odors and hormones to mate, and the basic neural circuits that mediate this behavior are known. These studies will contribute to a growing literature that hormones interact with chemosensory, visual, nutritional, and somatosensory cues to regulate reproduction. One hallmark of hormone-sensitive brain regions is the dense interconnections between steroid receptor-containing nuclei to form a hormone-responsive neural network. This network structure has profound implications for steroidal regulation of neural function. In 1986, Cottingham and Pfaff proposed that properties of the hormone-responsive neural network could include redundancy, amplification, stability and selective filtering of steroid cues to regulate reproduction, concepts which can be applied to the steroidal control of male hamster sexual behavior. The PI's laboratory recently determined that communication between odors and hormones is required for mating, and Specific Aim 1 will investigate where in the brain this is accomplished. In particular Aim 1A will use intracerebral implants of testosterone to test the hypothesis that there exist separate parallel subcircuits for transmission of odors and hormones, and that the hormonal subcircuit is functionally redundant. Aim 1B will combine intracerebral implants with unilateral olfactory bulbectomy to determine sites for integration of hormonal cues with odors. The implication is that hormones act as a selective filter for odor cues to permit mating. Specific Aim 2 will test the hypothesis that multifocal steroid action amplifies male sexual behavior using multiple implants of testosterone in the mating behavior pathway. Finally, Specific Aim 3 will investigate stability of the mating behavior circuitry through reciprocal connections of steroid-responsive subnuclei.