Effects of gonadal hormones during puberty on behavior

描述（由申请人提供）：本研究的主要目的是了解性腺类固醇激素如何塑造雄性仓鼠青春期的神经系统和行为。虽然青春期睾酮（T）的升高通常与男性生殖行为的激活有关，但这些T分泌物也组织（即，永久改变）发育中的神经回路，以增强成年期对T的激活反应。Exp. 1将检验青春期是T对男性生殖行为组织作用的敏感期这一假设。具体目标2将确定是否T在青春期组织男性生殖行为，通过改变内侧视前区多巴胺能反应女性的感觉刺激。这些研究对人类的状况有影响，如合成代谢类固醇滥用，饮食失调和疾病，所有这些都将大脑暴露于类固醇激素的窗口转移到青春期的正常时间之外。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The primary aim of this research is to understand how gonadal steroid hormones shape the nervous system and behavior during puberty in male hamsters. While the pubertal rise in testosterone (T) is often associated with the activation of male reproductive behavior, these T secretions also organize (i.e., permanently alter) developing neural circuits to enhance activational responses to T in adulthood. Exp. 1 will test the hypothesis that puberty is a sensitive period for organizational actions of T on masculine reproductive behavior. Specific Aim 2 will determine whether T during puberty organizes masculine reproductive behavior by altering medial preoptic area dopaminergic responses to female sensory stimuli. These studies have implications for human conditions such as anabolic steroid abuse, eating disorders, and disease, all of which shift the window of brain exposure to steroid hormones outside of the normal time of puberty.