COMMON LIFE STRESSES & FERTILITY IN PRIMATES

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This subproject is one of many research subprojects utilizing the resources provided by a Center grant funded by NIH/NCRR. The subproject and investigator (PI) may have received primary funding from another NIH source, and thus could be represented in other CRISP entries. The institution listed is for the Center, which is not necessarily the institution for the investigator. This project examines the role that everyday life stresses play in leading to infertility in women and nonhuman primates. It builds on our previous findings that some individuals are very sensitive to stress and readily show stress-induced suppression of reproductive function, while others are stress-resilient and maintain normal menstrual cycles when stressed. We have found that stress-sensitive individuals show lower activity of central serotonergic neurons compared to more stress-resilient individuals as shown both physiologically and by changes in gene expression. In this grant, Specific Aim 1 is to determine if treatment with a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) will increase the stress resilience of stress-sensitive individuals. Specific Aim 2 is to identify differences in gene expression and activity of central neural systems in stress-sensitive and stress-resilient individuals. Specific Aim 3 examines the effects of stress on follicular and oocyte maturation in stress-sensitive and stress-resilient individuals. Specific Aim 4 examines activity of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis in stress-sensitive vs. stress-resilient animals.