The central theme of the program is to evaluate the hypothesis that gonadal proteins of the inhibin/activin family and neuroendocrine peptides especially GNRH, oxytocin and CRF and play important roles in the regulation of reproduction. 'These substances gain access to or are localized within the pituitary, gonads, placenta and brain where they act in an endocrine, paracrine or autocrine manner to control the differentiation, growth and functions of those tissues. In general we have three goals: (1) To characterize biologically important peptides/proteins, their precursors and their genes on the chemical and molecular level; (2) to explore their physiologic and pathophysiologic significance at the molecular, cellular and system levels-understanding both the control of peptide expression as well as their mode of action; (3) to develop a I pharmacology of the peptides that will provide tools for the investigation of their structures and functions. This multidisciplinary program brings together specialists in system physiology, reproduction biology, pharmacology, cell biology, receptor biology, molecular biology. peptide and protein isolation, analytical biochemistry, mass spectrometry and synthetic chemistry. The program comprises five Projects and five Cores which provide administrative, immunoassay, peptide analysis., purification, and molecular biology services. The five projects explore the distribution, chemical nature, regulation of gene expression and physiological roles of inhibin/activin subunits and other peptides in the gonads, pituitary, placenta and brain. Concepts and tools developed by this program will continue to contribute to our understanding of the reproductive, endocrine and central nervous systems in normal and diseased circumstances and may lead to improved methods for fertility regulation.
| Muenster, Uwe; Korupolu, Radhika; Rastogi, Ratindra et al. (2011) Antagonism of activin by activin chimeras. Vitam Horm 85:105-28 |
| Kim, Meejung; Choe, Senyon (2011) BMPs and their clinical potentials. BMB Rep 44:619-34 |
| Looyenga, Brendan D; Wiater, Ezra; Vale, Wylie et al. (2010) Inhibin-A antagonizes TGFbeta2 signaling by down-regulating cell surface expression of the TGFbeta coreceptor betaglycan. Mol Endocrinol 24:608-20 |
| Valera, Elvira; Isaacs, Michael J; Kawakami, Yasuhiko et al. (2010) BMP-2/6 heterodimer is more effective than BMP-2 or BMP-6 homodimers as inductor of differentiation of human embryonic stem cells. PLoS One 5:e11167 |
| Isaacs, Michael J; Kawakami, Yasuhiko; Allendorph, George P et al. (2010) Bone morphogenetic protein-2 and -6 heterodimer illustrates the nature of ligand-receptor assembly. Mol Endocrinol 24:1469-77 |
| Hassold, Terry; Hunt, Patricia (2009) Maternal age and chromosomally abnormal pregnancies: what we know and what we wish we knew. Curr Opin Pediatr 21:703-8 |
| Wiater, Ezra; Lewis, Kathy A; Donaldson, Cynthia et al. (2009) Endogenous betaglycan is essential for high-potency inhibin antagonism in gonadotropes. Mol Endocrinol 23:1033-42 |
| Cheng, Edith Y; Hunt, Patricia A; Naluai-Cecchini, Theresa A et al. (2009) Meiotic recombination in human oocytes. PLoS Genet 5:e1000661 |
| Ciarmela, Pasquapina; Wiater, Ezra; Smith, Sean M et al. (2009) Presence, actions, and regulation of myostatin in rat uterus and myometrial cells. Endocrinology 150:906-14 |
| Ciarmela, Pasquapina; Wiater, Ezra; Vale, Wylie (2008) Activin-A in myometrium: characterization of the actions on myometrial cells. Endocrinology 149:2506-16 |
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