Neuroendocrine Control of Reproductive Behavior

简介(申请人？S摘要)：环境因素、激素和 大脑相互作用，产生复杂的社会行为，包括那些重要的 用于繁殖。本系列研究的目标是由一个新的 研究人员，是为了阐明激素和大脑之间的基本关系 调节性唤起的区域和那些对表达 反映性欲的行为。鸣禽提供了一个很好的模式 理解这种关系的系统。歌曲的学习、制作和 已知知觉受性类固醇结合的特定基团调节 核团，被称为“歌唱系统”；然而，人们对大脑区域知之甚少 规范歌唱动机。在繁殖季节，雄鸟歌唱 八哥是在结对和交配之前观察到的。 很可能反映了男性的性唤醒。内侧视前区(POM)为 已知在其他物种中对雄性性行为的表达至关重要 觉醒，并损害了这个核团，扰乱了歌唱和其他求爱 雄性八哥的行为，表明POM可能调节 在繁育的背景下唱歌的动机。目前的提议包括 四项旨在了解大脑区域之间关系的研究 专为男歌和POM：1)顺行和逆行 神经解剖束示踪研究旨在确定神经解剖学 SONG系统与POM的联系，2)POM病变研究 POM内、外病变对SONG影响的比较 繁殖季节，3)一项植入性研究，其中芳香酶抑制剂将 直接植入去势后接受睾酮治疗的男性的POM 以确定POM中的芳香酶活性是否对 在繁殖期唱的歌，以及4)对 C-Fos和Zenk的即刻早期基因产物进一步探索POM 对出现的雄性或雌性刺激性鸟类的鸣叫反应的调节 在繁殖季节或在繁殖季节之外。这项工作将定义 POM在男性歌曲和性行为中，可能会增加另一个维度 关于男性歌声和意志神经内分泌调节的研究现状 连接两个目前独立的研究领域(关于鸟鸣的研究 和对男性性动机的研究)，这些步骤是阐明 大脑如何调节复杂的社会行为。此外，这项研究还 可以为未来对疾病病因的研究奠定基础 与性唤醒有关。

DESCRIPTION (applicant?s abstract): Environmental factors, hormones, and the brain interact to produce complex social behaviors, including those important for reproduction. The goal of the present series of studies, submitted by a new investigator, is to elucidate basic relationships between hormones and brain areas regulating sexual arousal and those important for the expression of behaviors reflecting sexual arousal. Songbirds provide an excellent model system for understanding this relationship. Song learning, production, and perception are known to be regulated by a specific group of sex steroid binding nuclei, known as "the song system"; however, little is known about brain areas regulating the motivation to sing. During the breeding season, song in male starlings (Sturnus vulgaris) is observed prior to pair formation and copulation and likely reflects male sexual arousal. The medial preoptic area (POM) is known in other species to be critical for the expression of male sexual arousal, and lesions to this nucleus disrupt singing and other courtship behaviors in male starlings, suggesting that the POM might regulate the motivation to sing within breeding context. The present proposal consists of four studies designed to understand the relationship between brain areas devoted exclusively to male song and the POM: 1) An anterograde and retrograde neuroanatomical tract tracing study aimed to determine neuroanatomical connections between the song system and the POM, 2) a POM lesion study comparing the effects of POM lesions on song sung within and outside of the breeding season, 3) an implant study in which an aromatase inhibitor will be implanted directly into the POM of castrated, testosterone treated male starlings to determine whether aromatase activity in the POM is critical for song sung in the breeding season, and 4) an investigation of the expression of the immediate early gene products of c-Fos and ZENK to explore further POM regulation of song in response to male or female stimulus birds presented during or outside of the breeding season. This work will define the role of the POM in male song and sexual behavior, could add another dimension to the current understanding of the neuroendocrine regulation of male song, and will serve to link two currently separate fields of research (research on birdsong and research on male sexual motivation), steps that are necessary to elucidate how the brain regulates complex social behaviors. In addition, this research could lay the groundwork for future studies on the etiology of disorders related to sexual arousal.