Postdoctoral Research Fellowship in Biosciences Related to the Environment for FY 1998

DBI-9804183 Creagh W.Breuner这一行动资助了美国国家科学基金会1998年与环境有关的生物科学博士后研究奖学金。这一奖学金为研究员提供了一个机会，使其有机会获得博士学位以外的额外科学培训，并在国家科学基金会生物科学局的支持下，在分子、细胞、有机体、种群、社区和/或生态系统层面上对任何生物领域中生物体与其环境之间相互作用的基本机制进行创新和富有想象力的研究。每个研究金资助一项研究和培训计划，该计划将在一个赞助实验室进行。该奖学金的研究和培训计划题为描述麻雀应激反应途径中糖皮质激素作用的多种机制。野生动物的生存和繁殖依赖于动物感知环境事件的能力，以及适当调整生理和行为的能力。不可预测的事件会迅速增加循环中的糖皮质激素水平，引发生理和行为反应，并有助于避免慢性压力。有证据表明，鸟类大脑中存在三种糖皮质激素受体：两种细胞内受体和一种细胞膜受体。这些受体应该对糖皮质激素有明显不同的时间反应，因此在应激反应的调节中扮演不同的角色。这一系列实验描述了这些受体在鸟类大脑中的特征和位置，并阐明了自由生活的季节性脊椎动物甘贝尔白冠麻雀(Zonotricia Leucoprys Gambeli)从感知到的应激源到行为变化的途径。

Abstract DBI-9804183 Creagh W. Breuner This action funds an NSF Postdoctoral Research Fellowship in Biosciences Related to the Environment for 1998. This fellowship provides an opportunity for the Fellow to gain additional scientific training beyond the doctoral degree and to pursue innovative and imaginative research into the fundamental mechanisms underlying the interactions between organisms and their environment at the molecular, cellular, organismal, population, community and/or ecosystem level in any area of biology supported by the Directorate for Biological Sciences of the National Science Foundation. Each fellowship supports a research and training plan to be carried out in a sponsoring laboratory. The research and training plan for this fellowship is entitled characterization of multiple mechanisms for glucocorticoid action in the stress response pathway in a sparrow. Survival and reproduction in the wild depend upon an animal's ability to perceive events in the environment and to adjust physiology and behavior appropriately. Unpredictable events rapidly increase levels of circulating glucocorticoids, eliciting physiological and behavioral responses and serving to avoid chronic stress. There is evidence for three glucocorticoid receptors in the avian brain: two intracellular and one membrane. These receptors should have distinctly different temporal responses to glucocorticoids and therefore different roles in the regulation of the stress response. This series of experiments characterizes and localizes these receptors in the avian brain and elucidates the pathway from a perceived stressor to behavioral changes in a free-living, seasonal vertebrate, Gambel's white-crowned sparrow (Zonotrichia leucophrys gambelii).