Gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) is a decapeptide that was isolated from brain in 1971. With the development of sophisticated antibody technology, the GnRH neuronal network was demonstrated to be a complex, heterogenous system, comprising three or more discrete neuronal groups and spanning vastly different regions of the brain, including the ganglion of the terminal nerve within the olfactory bulb and nerve, the basal forebrain including the preoptic area, and the caudal diencephalon or midbrain region. Moreover, GnRH neurons project to targets within and outside the brain and serves as both a hormone and a neurotransmitter. It is implicated in controlling the expression and maintenance of neuroendocrinological traits underlying behavioral reproductive mechanisms. This Small Grant for Exploratory Research award to Dr. Bass will facilitate the development of sensitive and specific molecular tools which will be instrumental in providing new insights into the cellular and molecular bases for hormonal control of sexual differentiation of brain and behavior. He will complete the sequence analysis and sequence comparisons of cDNAs for GnRH in a specific species that serves as a model to examine intrasexual dimorphisms in brain and behavior. Dr. Bass will use the antisense ribonucleic acid transcripts generated from the cloned cDNAs and in situ hybridization histochemistry to identify the expression patterns and quantitate levels of novel GnRH transcripts in the brain of juvenile and adult animals with distinct reproductive phenotypes. The development of these new sensitive molecular tools will open up new avenues into this emerging research area. The research will lead to a better understanding of the role that GnRH plays in basic mechanisms underlying reproducive maturation, physiology and species-typical behaviors.
