Acoustic Communication and Hormone Control

声音交流和激素控制

基本信息

批准号：
6678185
负责人：
Walter Wilczynski
金额：
$ 22.16万
依托单位：
UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT AUSTIN
依托单位国家：
美国
项目类别：
财政年份：
1998
资助国家：
美国
起止时间：
1998-03-10 至 2007-05-31
项目状态：
已结题

项目摘要

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): This project investigates the ways in which participation in social interactions change brain systems associated with reproductive function, and the hormones and behavior they control. Following previous work the project will focus on three forebrain systems, the gonadotropin releasing hormone cells that directly control the pituitary and its regulation of gonadal steroids, tyrosine hydroxylase (dopaminergic) containing cells in several locations that participate in several processes related to reward, motor control, and several aspects of male sexual behavior and endocrine control, and arginine vasotocin ceils which comprise an important neuromodulator system influencing social behavior and communication. The project uses a combination of behavioral tests, endocrinological manipulations, and neuroanatomical methods (particularly immunocytochemistry), tied together with statistical model testing using Structural Equation Modeling, to test several hypotheses about the way in which exposure to communication signals associated with sociosexual behavior sculpt brain systems. It will test the specific hypothesis that sex steroid changes triggered by social stimulation is the critical, mediating factor in inducing the neural changes resulting from such stimulation and examine alternative mechanistic routes by which androgens might act. It will also test two hypotheses concerning the mechanisms underlying the neural changes: that the resultant neural changes involve activation of the pCREB signaling pathway that has been demonstrated to be important in other brain areas for mediating neural plasticity associated with cognitive memory, and/or that the neural changes reflect an increase in neurogenesis. Furthermore, it will compare changes induced by social stimulation to those induced by changes in hormonal state independent of social cues. Supporting the hypothesis driven portions of the project will be more descriptive studies identifying the location of androgen receptors and aromatase enzymes so as to provide neuroanatomical data with which to interpret the hormonal effects on the three target populations and more generally on any observed patterns of pCREB formation and neurogenesis up-regulation. Lastly, the data obtained in different portions of the project will be employed to test alternative hypotheses about the causal relationships among the brain changes, the hormonal changes, and the behavioral changes induced by social stimulation. The project will enhance the understanding of the ways in which social interactions change the levels of circulating sex and stress hormones in an individual, and how these changes may in turn affect the brain systems important for controlling sexual behavior, aggression, and endocrine regulation. These are all natural behaviors with clinical significance, as dysfunctions of sexual response and reproductive function, affiliation and aggression, and stress are important human clinical problems.

描述（由申请人提供）：该项目研究参与社交互动如何改变与生殖功能相关的大脑系统及其控制的激素和行为。继之前的工作之后，该项目将重点关注三个前脑系统：直接控制垂体及其对性腺类固醇调节的促性腺激素释放激素细胞，在多个位置含有酪氨酸羟化酶（多巴胺能）的细胞，这些细胞参与与奖励、运动控制相关的多个过程，以及男性性行为和内分泌控制的几个方面，以及精氨酸催产素细胞，其构成影响社会行为和交流的重要神经调节系统。该项目结合了行为测试、内分泌操作和神经解剖学方法（特别是免疫细胞化学），并结合使用结构方程模型的统计模型测试，来测试关于接触与社会性行为相关的通信信号如何塑造大脑的几种假设。系统。它将检验特定的假设，即社交刺激引发的性类固醇变化是诱导此类刺激引起的神经变化的关键中介因素，并检查雄激素可能发挥作用的替代机制途径。它还将测试有关神经变化背后机制的两个假设：由此产生的神经变化涉及 pCREB 信号通路的激活，该通路已被证明在其他大脑区域中对于调节与认知记忆相关的神经可塑性非常重要，和/或神经变化反映了神经发生的增加。此外，它将比较社交刺激引起的变化与独立于社交线索的荷尔蒙状态变化引起的变化。支持该项目的假设驱动部分将是更具描述性的研究，以确定雄激素受体和芳香酶的位置，以便提供神经解剖学数据来解释激素对三个目标人群的影响，更普遍地解释对任何观察到的 pCREB 形成模式的影响和神经发生上调。最后，在该项目的不同部分获得的数据将用于测试关于大脑变化、荷尔蒙变化和社交刺激引起的行为变化之间因果关系的替代假设。该项目将加深人们对社会互动如何改变个体性激素和压力激素水平的理解，以及这些变化如何反过来影响对控制性行为、攻击性和内分泌调节至关重要的大脑系统。这些都是具有临床意义的自然行为，因为性反应和生殖功能的功能障碍、归属和攻击性以及压力是重要的人类临床问题。