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Neuroendocrine mechanisms control the seasonal reproduction in birds and mammals. Seasonal reproduction is ubiquitous across vertebrate and invertebrate species, and its timing is extremely crucial in order to maximize offspring survival. The hypothalamus is the key brain region that integrates environmental cues. An endogenous circannual timer with oscillations that approximate one year is also localized in the hypothalamus. Successful timing of reproduction involves the combination of endogenous internal timers that are entrained by local environmental cues. Photoperiod, or the annual change in day length, is the primary cue most temperate animals use to predict future environmental conditions. Birds are able to detect light through photoreceptors located in the medio-basal hypothalamus. These photoreceptors are localized in neuroendocrine regions and regulate the key reproductive neuropeptide gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH). In mammals, retinal photoreceptors transduce light information the suprachiasmatic nucleus in the hypothalamus, which then modulates the nocturnal duration of melatonin. Melatonin in mammals is crucial, as it regulates the neuroendocrine release of GnRH and downstream transitions across seasonal reproductive states. The tanycyte cells lining the third ventricle (3rdV) of the hypothalamus are the critical node for the integration of internal (i.e., circannual timing) and external (e.g., photoperiod) information necessary for the regulation of seasonal reproduction.

The hypocretins (also known as orexins) are selectively expressed in a subset of lateral hypothalamic neurons. Since the reports of their discovery in 1998, they have been intensely investigated in relation to their role in sleep/wake transitions, feeding, reward, drug abuse, and motivated behavior. This research has cemented their role as a subcortical relay optimized to tune arousal in response to various salient stimuli. This article reviews their discovery, physiological modulation, circuitry, and integrative functionality contributing to vigilance state transitions and stability. Specific emphasis is placed on humoral and neural inputs regulating hcrt neural function and new evidence for an autoimmune basis of the sleep disorder narcolepsy. Future directions for this field involve dissection of the heterogeneity of this neural population using single-cell transcriptomics, optogenetic, and chemogenetics, as well as monitoring population and single cell activity. Computational models of the hypocretin network, using the “flip-flop” or “integrator neuron” frameworks, provide a fundamental understanding of how this neural population influences brain-wide activity and behavior.

Sex differences in the brain are established by the differential gonadal steroid hormonal milieu experienced by developing male and female fetuses and newborns. Androgen production by the testis starts in males prior to birth resulting in a brief developmental window during which the brain is exposed to high levels of steroid. Androgens and aromatized estrogens program the developing brain toward masculinized physiology and behavior that is then manifest in adulthood. In rodents, the perinatal programming of sex-specific adult mating behavior provides a model system for exploring the mechanistic origins of brain sex differences. Microglia are resident in the brain and provide innate immunity. Previously considered restricted to response to injury, these cells are now thought to be major contributors to the sculpting of developing neural circuits. This role extends to being an important component of the sexual differentiation process and has opened the door for exploration into myriad other aspects of neuroimmunity and inflammation as possible determinants of sex differences. In humans, males are at greater risk for more frequent and/or more severe neuropsychiatric and neurological disorders of development, many of which include prenatal inflammation as an additional risk factor. Emerging clinical and preclinical evidence suggests male brains experience a higher inflammatory tone early in development, and this may have its origins in the maternal immune system. Collectively, these disparate observations coalesce into a coherent picture in which brain development diverges in males versus females due to a combination of gonadal steroid action and neuroinflammation, and the latter increases the risk to males of developmental disorders.

The gonadotropins, follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) and luteinizing hormone (LH), are glycoproteins produced by gonadotrope cells of the anterior pituitary gland. The two hormones act on somatic cells of the gonads in both males and females to regulate fundamental aspects of reproductive physiology, including gametogenesis and steroidogenesis. In males, LH stimulates testosterone production and sperm maturation. FSH also regulates spermatogenesis, though the importance of the hormone in this process differs across species. In females, FSH stimulates ovarian follicle maturation. Follicles are structures composed of oocytes surrounded by two types of somatic cells, granulosa and theca cells. FSH stimulates granulosa cells to proliferate and to increase their production of the aromatase enzyme. LH stimulates theca cells to make androgens, which are converted into estrogens by aromatase in granulosa cells. A surge of LH also stimulates ovulation of mature follicles. Gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) from the brain is the principal stimulator of gonadotropin synthesis and secretion from the pituitary. The sex steroids (androgens and estrogens) that are produced by the gonads in response to the gonadotropins feedback to the brain and pituitary gland. In the brain, these hormones usually slow the release of GnRH through a process called negative feedback, which in turn leads to decreases in FSH and LH. The steroids also modulate the sensitivity of the pituitary to GnRH in addition to directly regulating expression of the genes that encode the gonadotropin subunits. These effects are gene- and species-specific. In females, estrogens also have positive feedback actions in the brain and pituitary in a reproductive cycle stage-dependent manner. This positive feedback promotes GnRH and LH release, leading to the surge of LH that triggers ovulation. The gonadotropins are dimeric proteins. FSH and LH share a common α-subunit but have hormone-specific subunits, FSHβ and LHβ. The β subunits provide a means for differential regulation and action of the two hormones. In the case of FSH, there is a second gonadal feedback system that specifically regulates the FSHβ subunit. The gonads produce proteins in the transforming growth factor β (TGFβ) family called inhibins, which come in two forms (inhibin A and inhibin B). The ovary produces both inhibins whereas the testes make inhibin B alone. Inhibins selectively suppress FSH synthesis and secretion, without affecting LH. The pituitary produces additional TGFβ proteins called activins, which are structurally related to inhibins. Activins, however, stimulate FSH synthesis by promoting transcription of the FSHβ subunit gene. Inhibins act as competitive receptor antagonists, binding to activin receptors and blocking activin action, and thereby leading to decreases in FSH. Together, GnRH, sex steroids, activins, and inhibins modulate and coordinate gonadotropin production and action to promote proper gonadal function and fertility.

Understanding of the brain mechanisms regulating reproductive behaviors in female laboratory animals has been aided greatly by our knowledge of estrogen receptors in the brain. Hypothalamic neurons that express the gene for estrogen receptor-alpha regulate activity in the neural circuit for the simplest female reproductive response, lordosis behavior. In turn, many of the neurotransmitter inputs to the critical hypothalamic neurons have been studied using electrophysiological and neurochemical techniques. The upshot of all of these studies is that lordosis behavior presents the best understood set of mechanisms for any mammalian behavior.

In response to changes in metabolic demand, the cardiovascular and respiratory systems are regulated in a highly coordinated fashion, such that both ventilation and cardiac output increase in a parallel fashion, thus maintaining a relatively constant level of arterial blood PO2, PCO2, and pH. In addition, external alerting stimuli that trigger defensive or orienting behavioral responses also trigger coordinated cardiorespiratory changes that are appropriate for the particular behavior. Furthermore, environmental challenges such as hypoxia or submersion evoke complex cardiovascular and respiratory response that have the effect of increasing oxygen uptake and/or conserving the available oxygen. The brain mechanisms that are responsible for generating coordinated cardiorespiratory responses can be divided into reflex mechanisms and feedforward (central command) mechanisms. Reflexes that regulate cardiorespiratory function arise from a wide variety of internal receptors, and include those that signal changes in blood pressure, the level of blood oxygenation, respiratory activity, and metabolic activity. In most cases more than one reflex is activated, so that the ultimate cardiorespiratory response depends upon the interaction between different reflexes. The essential central pathways that subserve these reflexes are largely located within the brainstem and spinal cord, although they can be powerfully modulated by descending inputs arising from higher levels of the brain. The brain defense mechanisms that regulate the cardiorespiratory responses to external threatening stimuli (e.g., the sight, sound, or odor of a predator) are highly complex, and include both subcortical and cortical systems. The subcortical system, which includes the basal ganglia and midbrain colliculi as essential components, is phylogenetically ancient and generates immediate coordinated cardiorespiratory and motor responses to external stimuli. In contrast, the defense system that includes the cortex, hypothalamus, and limbic system evolved at a later time, and is better adapted to generating coordinated responses to external stimuli that involve cognitive appraisal.