Pharmacology and Neuroscience
Dr. Reid Norman
Professor of Pharmacology
Ph. D., Anatomy, Kansas University, 1971.
Central nervous system regulation of fertility in primates; influence of environmental stress on gonadotropin secretion.
The goal of our research is to gain a better understanding of how the central nervous system manages reproduction in primates. Estrogen (E) and testosterone (T) influence how the brain controls the release of gonadotropic hormones from the pituitary. Our hypothesis is that in addition to their role in feedback regulation of gonadotropins, these gonadal steroids also influence how an animal interprets environmental events that ultimately impact reproductive success. In higher primates, both psychological and nutritional stress are environmental factors that can negatively affect reproduction. However, it is not clear how these stressful stimuli interrupt gonadotropin secretion and normal reproductive processes. Current inquiries in this laboratory focus on how male and female primates respond differently to stress and how gonadal steroids affect that response. Ongoing experiments include studies on the role that both NPY and vasopressin have as mediators of the inhibitory effects of stress on GnRH release and the participation of endogenous opiates in modulation of GnRH release from the hypothalamus.
Representative Publications
Robert-McComb JJ, Qian XP, Veldhuis JD, McGlone, JJ, Norman RL, 2006 Neuroendocrine Responses to Psychological Stress in Eumenorrheic and Oligomenorrheic Women. Stress (In press)
Lado-Abeal J, Robert-McComb JJ, Qian X-P, Leproult R, Van Cauter E, Norman RL, 2005 Sex differences in the neuroendocrine response to short-term energy restriction in non-human primates. J Neuroendocrinol 17:435-444
Lado-Abeal J, Norman RL, 2003 Leptin and reproduction in males. In Henson MC, Castracane VD (eds) Leptin and Reproduction, Kluwer Academic/Plenum, New York, pp 117-132
Lado-Abeal J, Norman RL, 2002 Leptin and reproductive function in males. Sem Reprod Med 20:145-151
Lado-Abeal J, Veldhuis JD, Norman RL, 2002 Glucose relays information regarding nutritional status to the neural circuits that control the somatotropic, corticotropic, and gonadotropic axes in adult male rhesus macaques. Endocrinology 143:403-410
Lado-Abeal J, Clapper JA, Norman RL, 2001 Antagonism of central vasopressin receptors blocks hypoglycemic stress induced inhibition of LH release in male rhesus macaques. J Neuroendocrinol 13:650-655
Lado-Abeal J, Hickox JR, Cheung TL, Veldhuis JD, Hardy DM, Norman RL, 2000 Neuroendocrine consequences of fasting in adult male macaques: effects of recombinant rhesus macaque leptin infusion. Neuroendocrinology 71:196-208
Lado-Abeal J, Lukyanendo YO, Swamy S, Hermida RC, Hutson JC, Norman RL, 1999 Short-term leptin infusion does not affect circulating levels of LH, testosterone or cortisol in pubertal fasted male rhesus macaques. Clin Endocrinol 51:41-52
Lado-Abeal J, Mrotek JJ, Stocco DM, Norman RL, 1999 Effects of leptin on ACTH-stimulated secretion of cortisol in rhesus macaques and on human adrenal carcinoma cells. Eur J Endocrinol 141:534-538
For further information contact Dr. Reid L. Norman