PRENATAL ALCOHOL ENDOCRINE & SEXUALLY DIMORPHIC EFFECTS

已知急性和慢性酒精摄入会影响循环。 成年动物和人类的性腺激素水平。自变更以来 在围产期这些荷尔蒙水平会有深远的影响 二型性行为对成人行为表达的长期影响 和神经内分泌功能，重要的是要确定这种 在出生前接触乙醇的动物中存在变化。初步 研究表明，这种变化在成年动物中也存在。 妊娠最后三个月子宫内的乙醇。中的研究 这项建议旨在将行为和 内分泌测量来确定我们所拥有的变化 观察到的与酒精引起的循环改变有关 胎儿期类固醇激素水平。此外， 研究旨在评估这些长期变化是否是由于 乙醇对组织或激活方面的影响 成人性二型性表现的生理基础 行为。这些实验的结果可能会导致更有效的 治疗酗酒母亲子女的战略。

Acute and chronic ethanol administration is known to affect circulating levels of gonadal hormones in adult animals and humans. Since alteration in these hormone levels during the perinatal period can have profound long-term consequences on adult expression of sexually dimorphic behaviors and neuroendocrine function, it is important to determine whether such alterations exist in animals exposed prenatally to ethanol. Preliminary studies suggest that such changes are present in adult animals exposed to ethanol in utero during the last trimester of pregnancy. The studies in this proposal have been designed to integrate both behavioral and endocrinological measures to determine whether the changes which we have observed are associated with ethanol-induced alterations in circulating levels of steroid hormones during the prenatal period. Moreover, the studies are designed to assess whether these long-term changes are due to an effect of ethanol on the organizational or activational aspects of the physiology underlying the adult expression of sexually dimorphic behaviors. The results of these experiments may lead to more efficacious strategies for the treatment of children of alcoholic mothers.