Metabolic and Endocrine Control of Behavior

能量可获得性是一个环境因素，在调节野生和家养动物的繁殖方面发挥作用，但我们对能源可获得性与生育和繁殖行为之间的联系机制知之甚少。当食物匮乏时，哺乳动物的生殖功能，如季节性繁殖、青春期和哺乳期可能会大大减少。不久前，由脂肪身体细胞自然合成和分泌的瘦素分子被发现作为一种影响新陈代谢的激素。现在看来，瘦素可能会向大脑发出信号，告知动物可以获得多少代谢燃料，它也可能充当生殖准备的调节器。该项目利用药理学、分子生物学和行为学方法对一种啮齿动物物种进行了研究，这些啮齿动物物种的周期相对较短且非常规律的排卵(发情)。该项目确定了当可氧化代谢燃料低时，即使身体脂肪水平高，涉及瘦素与无发情现象(通常的发情消失)相关的关键事件。该项目还将定位瘦素在大脑中影响发情周期的位置。这些结果将为理解能量水平和生殖功能之间的关系，以及生物体如何使其生殖策略适应环境扰动提供一个新的视角，因此其影响将超出神经内分泌学。此外，该项目将促进教育与研究的高度结合，并促进妇女在生物学领域的职业生涯，因为它位于一所主要是本科生的学校，而且首席调查员强烈参与教学和指导学生。

Energy availability is an environmental factor that plays a role in regulating reproduction in animals, both wild and domestic, but we know very little about the mechanisms that link energy availability to fertility and reproductive behavior. When food is scarce, reproductive functions such as seasonal breeding, puberty, and lactation in mammals may be strongly reduced. Not long ago the molecule leptin, naturally made and secreted by fat body cells, was discovered to act as a hormone affecting metabolism. It now appears that leptin may signal the brain about how much metabolic fuel is available for an animal, and it may also act as a modulator of reproductive readiness. This project addresses those hypotheses using pharmacology, molecular biology and behavioral approaches on a rodent species chosen for its comparatively short and very regular periodic ovulatory (estrous) cycle. The project determines the critical events involving leptin's association with the phenomenon of anestrous (the disappearance of the usual estrous) when oxidizable metabolic fuel is low, even when body fat levels may be high. The project will also localize where in the brain the leptin acts to influence estrous cyclicity. Results will give a novel perspective for understanding the relationship between energy levels and reproductive functions, and how organisms adapt their reproductive strategies to environmental perturbations, so the impact will extend beyond neuroendocrinology. In addition, the project will foster considerable integration of education with research, and of fostering careers of women in biology, because of the location at a largely undergraduate school and because of the strong involvement of the principal investigator with teaching and mentoring students.