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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.

For a complete list of publications by Reid Norman in PubMed, click here

For further information contact Dr. Reid L. Norman