Steroid influences on brain maturation

描述（由申请人提供）：青春期越来越被认为是大脑成熟的重要时期，但尚未得到充分研究。青春期前和成年雄性仓鼠对化学感觉和激素刺激的行为和生理反应不同，这表明青春期发生了大脑功能的根本变化。这一建议验证了青春期男性性行为的发展源于前脑交配回路的神经解剖学成熟的假设。目的1检验青春期树突发育的变化是否与男性性行为的青春期发育有关。青春期前的男性没有表现出适当的化学感觉和激素启动的性行为，这也表明这些信号可能没有在大脑中调解性行为的区域内整合和交流。目的2检测青春期前和青春期后男性的Me的传出和传入神经元是否同样被化学感觉信号激活。对青春期大脑发育控制过程的基本了解为今后研究自我给药类固醇、疾病状态或环境内分泌干扰物提供了及时的基础。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Puberty is increasingly recognized as an important yet understudied period of brain maturation. Prepubertal and adult male hamsters differ in behavioral and physiological responses to chemosensory and hormonal stimuli, suggesting that a fundamental change in brain function occurs during puberty. This proposal tests the hypothesis that development of male sexual behavior during puberty results from neuroanatomical maturation of the forebrain mating circuit. Aim 1 tests whether pubertal changes in dendritic elaboration are associated with the pubertal development of male sexual behavior. The failure of prepubertal males to show sexual behavior with the appropriate chemosensory and hormonal priming also suggests that these signals may not be integrated and communicated within brain regions mediating sexual behavior. Aim 2 tests whether efferent and afferent neurons of Me are activated by chemosensory cues similarly in prepubertal and postpubertal males. A basic understanding of the processes controlling pubertal brain development provides a timely foundation for future studies of self-administered steroids, disease states, or environmental endocrine disrupters.