Thyroid hormone influence on gonadal function and development: an amphibian model

人们越来越认识到水生环境中的污染物，并有证据表明它们能够通过破坏激素的自然作用来影响生物体。虽然激素系统经常被孤立地研究，但它们并不是孤立地工作，而是在几个层面上相互作用，调节生物体的发育和繁殖。由于缺乏对不同激素系统如何协同工作的了解，我们预测污染物对两栖动物（和其他动物）构成的风险的能力目前受到限制。因此，我们必须了解激素系统如何相互作用，以便准确预测这些污染物对动物健康的影响。这项研究将解决知识差距在甲状腺激素和生殖激素系统的相互作用。本研究将探索两栖动物甲状腺和生殖内分泌系统之间的关系，通过检查它们在特定生殖功能背景下的相互作用：性腺激素的产生。我们还将使用变态过程来研究这些相互作用如何受到内分泌状态发育变化的影响。这项研究有可能为甲状腺参与生殖提供重要的新思路，并使我们能够研究甲状腺状态的变化，无论是在发育过程中还是由于污染暴露，如何影响生殖。

There has been an increasing awareness of contaminants in the aquatic environment and evidence for their capacity to affect organisms through the disruption of the natural action of hormones. Although hormonal systems are often studied in isolation, they do not work in isolation, but instead interact at several levels to regulate development and reproduction in an organism. Our ability to predict the risk that contaminants pose to amphibians (and other animals) is currently limited by lack of knowledge as to how different hormonal systems work together. Thus, it is imperative that we understand how hormone systems interact in order to accurately predict the impact of these contaminants on animal health. This research will address knowledge gaps in the interaction of thyroid hormone and reproductive hormone systems. This research will explore the relationship between the amphibian thyroidal- and reproductive-endocrine systems by examining their interactions within the context of a specific reproductive function: hormone production in the gonad. We will also use the process of metamorphosis to examine how these interactions are influenced by developmental changes in endocrine status. This research has the potential to provide important new ideas about thyroidal involvement in reproduction and will allow us to study how changes in thyroid status, either in development or as a result of contaminant exposure, can influence reproduction.