Genesis and Migration of Sexually Dimorphic Vocal Neurons

本研究的总体目标是了解性腺类固醇激素影响参与行为的神经元的发育和成人功能的机制。类固醇对行为的影响被认为是通过对中枢神经系统的作用施加的。男性和女性的中枢神经系统有明显的差异。其中最引人注目的例子是运动神经元数量的差异，这些神经元支配效应肌进行行为表达。这些差异与行为差异有关，但尚不清楚两性二态形态如何影响两性二态功能。引起形态学差异的发育过程引起了相当大的兴趣。我们还不知道产生性别差异行为的神经效应系统是如何产生性别差异的。这项研究包含了实验方法，以确定爪蟾（Xenopus laevis）中产生两性二态行为的运动神经元的性别差异何时以及如何发展。

The overall goal of this research is to understand the mechanisms by which gonadal steroid hormones influence the development and adult function of neurons that participate in behavior. The effects of steroids on behavior are believed to be exerted by action on the central nervous system. There are marked differences in the central nervous system of males and females. Among the most striking of these are examples of differences in the number of motor neurons that innervate effector muscles for behavioral expression. These differences correlate with behavioral differences, but it is not clear how sexually dimorphic morphology contributes to sexually dimorphic function. Of considerable interest are the developmental processes that give rise to morphological differences. We do not yet know how sex differences arise in the neuroeffector systems that produce sexually differentiated behavior. This research contains experimental approaches to determine when and how sex differences in the motor neurons that produce sexually dimorphic behavior develop in the clawed frog, Xenopus laevis.