Neurobiology of reproduction: interactions between neurohormones and nuclear receptors controlling gonadotoropin release and sexual behaviour

大脑如何将外部环境的变化“翻译”为生殖的变化？首先，我们建议确定大脑中哪些系统是重要的。我们研究控制垂体促性腺激素释放的神经化学物质。这些激素反过来控制女性的排卵和男性的精子产生，并增加这些器官中性类固醇（即雌激素）的产生。我们研究产生对神经化学合成（酶）和作用（受体）重要的蛋白质的基因。我们还建议确定环境中的化学信号如何影响生殖。一种性别（女性）释放的影响异性（男性）生理和行为的化学气味被称为性信息素。我们已经开发出一种方法，可以同时研究我们的模型物种金鱼的数千个基因。这种方法被称为DNA微阵列，我们用它来研究男女的大脑功能。我们应该能够确定大脑如何对激素和环境信号做出反应，从而导致或抑制生殖。许多研究生学员参与其中，他们学习最先进的方法，这将有助于他们作为研究科学家的职业发展。这项研究很重要，因为在鱼身上发现的许多神经系统和激素在其他动物身上是一样的，包括人类。我们在鱼类身上的发现将对理解其他动物的繁殖产生影响。从长远来看，我们发现的一些基本生物学可能会在鱼类养殖中产生新的应用。

How does the brain 'translate' changes in the external environment to changes in reproduction?  First we propose to determine which systems in the brain are important.  We study the neurochemicals that control the release of the gonadotropic hormones from the pituitary. These hormones in turn control ovulation in females and sperm production in males, and increase sex steroid (i.e. estrogen) production in those organs.  We study the genes that produce proteins important for neurochemical synthesis (enzymes) and action (receptors).  We also propose to determine how chemical signals in the enviroment affect reproduction.  The chemical odour that one sex releases (the female) to affect the physiology and behaviour of the opposite sex (the male) is called a sex pheromone.  We already have developed methods to study thousands of genes at one time in our model species, the goldfish. This method is called the DNA microarray and we use it to study brain function in both sexes. We should be able to determine how the brain responds to hormones and enviromental signals to cause or inhibit reproduction. Many graduate student trainees are involved and they learn state-of-the-art methods which will contribute to their career development as research scientists. This research is important because many of the neural systems and hormones found in fish are the same in other animals, including  humans.  What we find in fish will have implications for the understanding of reproduction in other animals. Some of the basic biology we discover may, in the long term, lead to new applications in fish aquaculture.