Grant: Discovery Grants Program - Individual

In the past century of neuroscience research, almost all mammalian studies have used males exclusively. We now know that there can be subtle differences between the male and female brain as there can be subtle differences in how men and women think. Our research program aims to determine how ovarian hormones interact within areas of the brain that are important for learning and memory. We use rat models to examine which neural pathways are important for the actions of estrogens and progesterone. We are also interested in how these hormones affect which approach a female uses to solve a task. A person, or a rat, can use one of two memory systems to find out how to get somewhere. They can envision a map of the area and use that to help navigate to where they want to go. If it is a place where they have been often, then they may instead use a series of habitual turns to get there. Which of these strategies is used depends on how often they have been to that place, and in females, depends of what their levels of estrogens and progesterone are. We have discovered that the approach used depends on an area of the brain called the prefrontal cortex. In this grant we intend to discover which proteins in the prefrontal cortex bind to estrogens and progesterone. We will also examine the neuronal pathways involved that determine how we solve a maze, to get to a destination. Together, this research will reveal how ovarian hormones affect cognition, specifically the strategy used to find a destination. It will also address a century of neglect of research into the female brain.