Neuroendocrine Control of Reproductive Behavior

描述（申请人？环境因素，激素，以及 大脑相互作用产生复杂的社会行为，包括那些重要的 用于繁殖。本系列研究的目标，由一个新的 研究人员，是为了阐明激素与大脑之间的基本关系 调节性唤起的区域和那些对表达 反映性唤起的行为鸣禽提供了一个很好的模型 系统来理解这种关系。歌曲学习、制作， 已知感知受一组特定的性类固醇结合调节， 核，被称为“歌曲系统”;然而，对大脑区域知之甚少 调节唱歌的动机。在繁殖季节，雄性的歌声 椋鸟（Sturnus vulgaris）在配对和交配之前被观察到 很可能反映了男性的性冲动内侧视前区（POM） 已知在其他物种中对雄性生殖的表达至关重要 兴奋，这个核团的损伤会破坏歌唱和其他求爱行为 雄性椋鸟的行为，这表明POM可能调节 在繁殖环境中唱歌的动机。本提案包括： 四项研究旨在了解大脑区域之间的关系， 专门致力于男性歌曲和POM：1）一个顺行和逆行 神经解剖束追踪研究，旨在确定神经解剖 鸣唱系统和POM之间的联系，2）POM损伤研究 比较POM损伤对歌曲唱内和外的影响， 繁殖季节，3）一项植入研究，其中芳香酶抑制剂将 直接植入去势、睾酮治疗的雄性动物的POM中 以确定POM中的芳香化酶活性是否对 在繁殖季节唱的歌，和4）表达的调查， c-Fos和ZENK的即刻早期基因产物，以进一步探索POM 对雄性或雌性刺激鸟的鸣叫反应的调节 在繁殖季节期间或之外。这项工作将确定的作用， POM在男性歌曲和性行为中的作用，可能会增加另一个维度， 目前对男性歌曲的神经内分泌调节的理解， 这两个研究领域（鸟鸣研究）相互联系， 以及对男性性动机的研究），阐明 大脑如何调节复杂的社会行为此外，这项研究 可以为未来的疾病病因学研究奠定基础 与性唤起有关

DESCRIPTION (applicant?s abstract): Environmental factors, hormones, and the brain interact to produce complex social behaviors, including those important for reproduction. The goal of the present series of studies, submitted by a new investigator, is to elucidate basic relationships between hormones and brain areas regulating sexual arousal and those important for the expression of behaviors reflecting sexual arousal. Songbirds provide an excellent model system for understanding this relationship. Song learning, production, and perception are known to be regulated by a specific group of sex steroid binding nuclei, known as "the song system"; however, little is known about brain areas regulating the motivation to sing. During the breeding season, song in male starlings (Sturnus vulgaris) is observed prior to pair formation and copulation and likely reflects male sexual arousal. The medial preoptic area (POM) is known in other species to be critical for the expression of male sexual arousal, and lesions to this nucleus disrupt singing and other courtship behaviors in male starlings, suggesting that the POM might regulate the motivation to sing within breeding context. The present proposal consists of four studies designed to understand the relationship between brain areas devoted exclusively to male song and the POM: 1) An anterograde and retrograde neuroanatomical tract tracing study aimed to determine neuroanatomical connections between the song system and the POM, 2) a POM lesion study comparing the effects of POM lesions on song sung within and outside of the breeding season, 3) an implant study in which an aromatase inhibitor will be implanted directly into the POM of castrated, testosterone treated male starlings to determine whether aromatase activity in the POM is critical for song sung in the breeding season, and 4) an investigation of the expression of the immediate early gene products of c-Fos and ZENK to explore further POM regulation of song in response to male or female stimulus birds presented during or outside of the breeding season. This work will define the role of the POM in male song and sexual behavior, could add another dimension to the current understanding of the neuroendocrine regulation of male song, and will serve to link two currently separate fields of research (research on birdsong and research on male sexual motivation), steps that are necessary to elucidate how the brain regulates complex social behaviors. In addition, this research could lay the groundwork for future studies on the etiology of disorders related to sexual arousal.