Pfaff Donald
Laboratory of Neurobiology and Behaviour, Rockefeller University, 1230 York Avenue, New York, New York 10021, USA.
J Endocrinol. 2005 Mar;184(3):447-53. doi: 10.1677/joe.1.05897.
Hormonal effects on behaviours in animals and humans are now well enough understood for general statements about causal steps to be proposed. Facilitation or repression of a given behaviour by a given hormone can depend on the person's genetic and developmental history, on the temporal and spatial parameters of the hormone's administration, on the hormone's metabolism and on the specific receptor isoform available in a given neuron. The gene for oestrogen receptor-alpha is required for an entire chain of behaviours essential for reproduction, from courtship through maternal behaviours. In order to show that it is possible to use endocrine tools to explain a mammalian behaviour, we analysed lordosis behaviour neuronal circuitry as well as the molecular mechanisms of its facilitation by oestrogens. The functional genomics of oestrogenic effects on lordosis arrange themselves in modules for neuronal Growth, Amplification (by progestins), Preparatory behaviours, Permissive actions by hypothalamic neurons, and Synchronization of mating behaviour with ovulation (GAPPS). A related four-gene micronet involving the amygdala and the paraventricular nucleus of the hypothalamus supports social recognition. Underlying all sociosexual behaviour is the fundamental arousal of brain and behaviour. Elementary arousal depends on a bilateral, bidirectional system universal among mammalian brains, and it can be altered by null deletion of the gene for oestrogen receptor-alpha. Future molecular and biophysical studies will specify how hormone effects in the brain change central nervous system state in such a manner as to alter the frequencies of entire sets of behavioural responses.
激素对动物和人类行为的影响如今已被充分理解，足以提出有关因果步骤的一般性陈述。特定激素对特定行为的促进或抑制可能取决于个体的遗传和发育史、激素给药的时间和空间参数、激素的代谢以及特定神经元中可用的受体亚型。雌激素α受体基因对于从求偶到母性行为等一整套繁殖所必需的行为至关重要。为了表明可以使用内分泌工具来解释哺乳动物的行为，我们分析了脊柱前凸行为的神经回路以及雌激素对其促进作用的分子机制。雌激素对脊柱前凸作用的功能基因组学可分为神经元生长、放大（通过孕激素）、预备行为、下丘脑神经元的许可作用以及交配行为与排卵同步（GAPPS）等模块。一个涉及杏仁核和下丘脑室旁核的相关四基因微网络支持社会识别。所有社会性行为的基础都是大脑和行为的基本唤醒。基本唤醒依赖于哺乳动物大脑中普遍存在且双向的双侧系统，雌激素α受体基因的无效缺失可改变该系统。未来的分子和生物物理研究将明确大脑中的激素效应如何改变中枢神经系统状态，从而改变整个行为反应集的频率。
