Grant: Discovery Grants Program - Individual

There has been an increasing awareness of contaminants in the aquatic environment and evidence for their capacity to affect organisms through the disruption of the natural action of hormones. Although hormonal systems are often studied in isolation, they do not work in isolation, but instead interact at several levels to regulate development and reproduction in an organism. Our ability to predict the risk that contaminants pose to amphibians (and other animals) is currently limited by lack of knowledge as to how different hormonal systems work together. Thus, it is imperative that we understand how hormone systems interact in order to accurately predict the impact of these contaminants on animal health. This research will address knowledge gaps in the interaction of thyroid hormone and reproductive hormone systems. This research will explore the relationship between the amphibian thyroidal- and reproductive-endocrine systems by examining their interactions within the context of a specific reproductive function: hormone production in the gonad. We will also use the process of metamorphosis to examine how these interactions are influenced by developmental changes in endocrine status. This research has the potential to provide important new ideas about thyroidal involvement in reproduction and will allow us to study how changes in thyroid status, either in development or as a result of contaminant exposure, can influence reproduction.