RUI: Brain Mast Cells During Reproduction

RUI：繁殖过程中的脑肥大细胞

• 批准号: 9417557
• 负责人: Rae Silver
• 金额: $ 5万
• 依托单位: Barnard College
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 1994
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 1994-09-01 至 1996-08-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=9417557&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: RUI; Brain; Mast; Cells; During

The Small Grants for Exploratory Research is a mechanism at the National Science Foundation to provide support for small-scale, exploratory, high-risk research in all fields of science. Dr. Silver has found the appearance of non-neuronal cell types in the brain following specific behaviors associated with reproduction. She has presented evidence to suggest that this new population of cells are mast cells of the immune system. Dr. Silver and her students will now examine the appearance of putative mast cells by determining whether they are migrating into the brain in response to appropriate environmental and behavioral stimuli, or whether these cells preexist in the CNS but remain undetectable. She will also examine the influence of behavioral and endocrine state on this population of non-neuronal cells. To accomplish this aim, Dr. Silver and her students will determine whether there is a sexual dimorphism in the distribution and number of putative mast cells and define the role played by gonadal and pituitary hormones in this phenomenon. Finally, she will use state-of-the art anatomical techniques to characterize this population of cells as mast cells and determine whether they possess receptors for steroid and peptide hormones. This research is appropriate for the SGER competition since it will provide strong preliminary work on a novel and exciting idea which opens a completely new direction in the field of behavioral neuroendocrinology. The results could provide a new mechanism for peptide-hormone release in the brain as well as to establish an interrelationship between the immune and neural systems during normally occurring behaviors.

探索性研究的小赠款是国家科学基金会的一种机制，旨在为各个科学领域的小规模，探索性，高风险研究提供支持。 Silver博士在与繁殖有关的特定行为之后发现了大脑中非神经元细胞类型的出现。她提出了证据表明，这种新的细胞群是免疫系统的肥大细胞。 Silver博士和她的学生现在将通过确定是否响应适当的环境和行为刺激来迁移到大脑中，检查推定肥大细胞的外观，或者这些细胞是否在中枢神经系统中均可迁移，但仍无法检测到。她还将检查行为和内分泌状态对非神经元细胞种群的影响。 为了实现这一目标，Silver博士和她的学生将确定假定肥大细胞的分布和数量是否存在性二态性，并定义了性腺和垂体激素在这种现象中的作用。 最后，她将使用最先进的解剖技术将细胞群描述为肥大细胞，并确定它们是否具有类固醇和肽激素的受体。 这项研究适用于SGER竞争，因为它将在一个新颖而令人兴奋的想法上提供强大的初步工作，从而在行为神经内分泌学领域打开了一个全新的方向。 结果可以为大脑中的肽激素释放提供新的机制，并在正常发生的行为过程中建立免疫系统和神经系统之间的相互关系。