Instruments to study the appetite regulatory and hypophysiotropic actions of neuroendoctrine factors in fish

本申请申请购买三种仪器，这对我的研究计划非常重要。我实验室的研究重点是大脑和肠道产生的内分泌因子如何调节食物摄入，以及脑垂体分泌的调节生长和繁殖的激素。大脑在调节食物摄入、生长和繁殖方面介导了许多激素的作用。立体定向装置是购买的设备之一，将用于将肠脑激素精确地施用到鱼大脑的特定区域。此外，将激素注射到鱼的胃腔中，以测试其对食物摄入的外周影响。在中心或外周注射后，自动自动喂食器，另一种设备将被用于持续监测和量化鱼的摄食行为和食物摄入量。第一个设备是将多肽注射到大脑中所必需的，而第二个设备可以在不给鱼造成压力的情况下长时间自动监测食物摄入。本申请要求使用灌注仪来研究肠道和脑源性激素对调节生长和繁殖的垂体激素的直接作用。脑下垂体细胞或片段将注入肠道和脑源性激素，并收集样本，分析调节生长和繁殖的激素的变化。总的来说，拟议研究的结果将为激素如何调节喂养、生长和繁殖提供有价值的信息。我们的研究对水产养殖有益，可以改善养殖鱼类的生长和繁殖。研究结果还可能导致确定这些激素的新功能，这可能有利于旨在开展进一步研究以改善加拿大和世界人类健康的生物医学研究。购买这些设备预计也将有助于培训许多高素质的人员。

This application requests funding for the purchase of three instruments, which are very essential for my research program.  Research in my laboratory focuses on how endocrine factors produced from the brain and gut regulate food intake and the secretion of hormones from the pituitary gland that regulate growth and reproduction.  Brain mediates many of the actions of hormones in regulating food intake, growth and reproduction.  Stereotaxic apparatus, one of the equipment to be purchased will be used for the precise administration of gut-brain hormones into specific regions of the fish brain.  In addition, hormones will be injected into the stomach cavity of fish to test its peripheral effects on food intake.  Following central or peripheral injections, an automatic self-feeder, another equipment requested will be used to continuously monitor and quantify feeding behavior and food intake of fish.  The first equipment is necessary to inject peptides into the brain, while the second instrument allows automated monitoring of food intake for prolonged durations without causing stress to fish.  Perifusion apparatus, requested in this application is required to study the direct actions of gut and brain derived hormones on pituitary hormones that regulate growth and reproduction.  Pituitary cells or fragments will be infused with gut and brain-derived hormones and samples will be collected to analyze changes in hormones regulating growth and reproduction.  Collectively, the results of the proposed studies will provide valuable information about how hormones regulate feeding, growth and reproduction.  Our research using fish could be beneficial in aquaculture, to improve the growth and reproduction of cultured fish.  The results could also lead to the identification of novel functions for these hormones, which could benefit biomedical research aimed to develop further studies to improve human health in Canada and the world.  The purchase of these equipment is also expected to help the training of many highly qualified personnel.