Interaction of Embryonic and Adult Experience

我们对个体出现的过程的理解仍然是初步的，但很明显，个体发展的环境，以及成年后的社会性互动，是这一过程的核心。这个项目解决了如何被动获得的经验作为一个胚胎与成人的互动，当个人有一定程度的行为调节自己的环境。行为和神经可塑性是这些个体差异的根源。因此，拟议研究的总体目标是确定胚胎经验和性经验如何相互作用，以影响成年男性的性行为，并揭示这反过来又如何影响行为背后的神经回路。具体而言，使用豹纹壁虎（Eublepharis macularius）作为模型系统，实验将调查介导胚胎和成人经验之间的相互作用所涉及的机制。明显的候选机制有两个特性：它们受到胚胎环境的影响，并且能够影响成年期的性行为和学习。中脑边缘多巴胺系统满足这两个标准，它是假设，不同程度的胚胎激素暴露组织这个系统和由此产生的差异介导的两种变体如何响应经验。这些研究是长期的，将涉及本科生和研究生的参与，以执行。学生将被要求在国家会议上展示他们的研究结果，并在同行评议的期刊上发表论文的共同作者。

Our understanding of the process by which individuality emerges is still rudimentary, but it is clear that the environment in which the individual develops, and its sociosexual interactions as an adult, are central to this process. This project addresses how the experiences passively acquired as an embryo interact with those of the adult, when the individual has a degree of behavioral regulation of its own environment. Behavioral and neural plasticity is at the root of these individual differences. Thus, the overall goal of the proposed research is to determine how embryonic experience and sexual experience later in life interact to affect adult male sexual behavior, and to reveal how this in turn effects the neural circuitry underlying behavior. Specifically, using the leopard gecko (Eublepharis macularius) as a model system, experiments will investigate the mechanisms involved in mediating the interaction between embryonic and adult experience. Obvious candidate mechanisms have two properties: they are influenced by the embryonic environment and they are capable of affecting sexual behavior and learning during adulthood. The mesolimbic dopamine system satisfies both these criteria and it is hypothesized that varying extent of embryonic hormone exposure organizes this system and the resulting differences mediate how the two morphs respond to experience. These studies are long-term and will involve the participation of undergraduate and graduate students for their execution. Students will be expected to present their findings at national meetings and be co-authors on papers published in peer-reviewed journals.