Regulation of Androgen Metabolism in Frog Development

影响繁殖的环境污染物是世界各地两栖动物数量下降的促成因素之一。更好地了解两栖动物中的性激素合成对于发现这些污染物的作用机制至关重要。建议的研究计划的目的是使用已知的激素合成抑制剂来加深我们对参与男性内分泌信号传递的酶和激素的调节和生物学功能的理解。实验方法包括对生物、细胞和分子终点的分析，旨在将较高水平的生物组织(例如非典型组织学)与微妙的分子变化(例如基因表达)联系起来。在接下来的五年里，我的研究项目将研究青蛙发育和性成熟过程中的睾丸激素代谢。 该计划将为HQP提供培训机会，这些HQP对从事与内分泌干扰相关的分子内分泌学和环境科学的研究生涯感兴趣。这项拟议的工作将产生关于男性性发育的独特数据，这将有益于加拿大和其他地方的生物学家和生物医学科学家。事实上，这项工作将提供改变脊椎动物雄性激素产生的后果的基线数据，从长远来看，这将有助于加拿大的政策制定者更好地管理表现出雄激素和抗雄激素活性的新出现的和现有的污染物。

Environmental pollutants that affect reproduction are one of the contributing factors to the declining populations of amphibians worldwide. A better understanding of sex hormone synthesis in amphibians is critical to help discover the mechanisms of action of these pollutants. The objective of the proposed research program is to use known hormone synthesis inhibitors to further our understanding of the regulation and biological functions of enzymes and hormones involved in male endocrine signalling. The experimental approach includes the analysis of organismal, cellular and molecular endpoints and aims to correlate higher levels of biological organization, for example atypical histology, to subtle molecular changes (e.g., gene expression). Over the next five years, my research program will study testosterone metabolism during frog development and sexual maturity. This program will provide training opportunities for HQP who are interested in pursuing a research career in molecular endocrinology and environmental science related to endocrine disruption. The proposed work will generate unique data on male sexual development that will be beneficial to biologists and biomedical scientists in Canada and elsewhere. Indeed, this work will provide baseline data on the consequences of altering the production of male hormones in vertebrates, which in the long term will help Canada's policy makers better manage emerging and existing contaminants that exhibit androgenic and anti-androgenic activity.