Neuroendocrinology Of Sex Steroids

Neurobiological Effects of Sex Steroid Hormones describes the neurobiological basis for the understanding of how sex steroid hormones, oestrogen and testosterone, interact with parts of the brain. The contributors have all made significant advances in the understanding of how these steroids regulate neural function, and how this activity is translated into reproductive behaviours necessary for the propagation of the species. This book covers a broad range of topics, extending from the molecular and cellular processes, through the action of steroids on neurotransmission, all the way to defining the brain circuitry involved in both male and female behaviour. This volume presents a snapshot of the rapidly advancing field of reproductive neuroendocrinology by the investigators who are most intimately involved with the discoveries.

The subject of this book is neuroendocrinology, that branch of biological science devoted to the interactions between the two major integrative organ systems of animals-the endocrine and nervous systems. Although this science today reflects a fusion of endocrinology and neurobiology, this synthetic ap proach is relatively recent. At the beginning of the 20th century, when the British physiologists, Bayliss and Starling, first proposed endocrinology to be an independent field of inquiry, they went to great lengths to establish the autonomy of chemical secretions in general and their independence from nervous control in particular (Bayliss, W. M. , and Starling, E. H. , 1902, The mechanism of pancreatic secretion,]. Physiol. 28:325). They argued with Pav lov, who said that there was a strong influence of the nervous system on the gastrointestinal phenomena the endocrinologists were studying. For several decades, the English physiologists prevailed, at least in the West; and Pavlov's critique was not taken to heart by the practitioners of the newly emerging discipline of endocrinology. Through the work of Harris, the Scharrers, Sawyer, Everett, and others, there has been something of a scientific detente in the latter half of this century; the hybrid field of neuroendocrinology is now regarded as one of the corner stones of modern neural science and is of fundamental importance in basic and clinical endocrinology.

This is a high-level reference text on the neurosteroids, sex steroid metabolism in the brain, and sex steroid actions in the brain. It contains 21 chapters by scientists who have been at the forefront of studies in the last two decades suggesting a neuromodulatory role in various physiological conditions possibly influencing sexual behavior, mood, memory, development, and aging.

The second edition of a popular introduction to the field of behavioral endocrinology.

Anti-social behaviors and social deficits induced mental disorders are critical problems in our society today. Social behaviors and interactions are shaped by experience, hereditary components (genes, hormones and neuropeptides) and environmental factors (photoperiods and metabolic signals). In addition to the classical gonadotropin-releasing hormone, RFamide peptides, kisspeptin and gonadotropin-inhibiting hormone are emerging as important regulators of the reproductive axis. These neuropeptides are evolutionarily conserved and are regulated by environmental factors. In this Research Topic, we advocate more recent advances in reproductive neuropeptides and sex steroids in the domains of social behavior including sexual and parental behavior, aggression, stress and anxiety. Using multiple species model, we also review how genes and the neuroendocrine system interact at the cell and organismic levels to contribute to social behavior in particular the epigenetic genomic changes caused by early life environment. We provide comprehensive insights of distinct neural networks and how cellular and molecular events in the brain regulate social behavior from a comparative perspective.

Hormones, Brain Function, and Behavior brings together the proceedings of a conference on neuroendocrinology held in May 1956 in New York. The papers explore selected aspects of hormone actions in relation to brain function and behavior and cover topics ranging from the effects of steroid hormones on the nervous system to the behavioral consequences of sex hormones and thyroid hormones. Serotonin, epinephrine, and their metabolites are also discussed in relation to experimental psychiatry. This monograph is comprised of 12 chapters and begins with an assessment of steroid hormones in relation to neuropsychiatric disorders, as well as the influence of adrenocortical steroids on brain function and metabolism. Subsequent chapters focus on the genetic and psychological determinants of sexual behavior patterns; the role of serotonin in mental disorders; the effect of thyroid hormones on appetite for alcohol and alcoholic beverages in rats; and the link between thyroid hormones and mental health. The biochemistry of serotonin and its physiological implications are also examined. This text will appeal to biologists, neuropharmacologists, neuropsychiatrists, and psychologists.