WORLD OF REPRODUCTIVE BIOLOGY: Making Neuronal Circuits Male

Neuronal Decision-Making Circuits

Studying the neural basis of decision-making has largely taken one of two paths: one has involved cell-by-cell characterization of neuronal circuits in invertebrates; and the other, single-unit studies of monkeys performing cognitive tasks. Here I shall attempt to bring these two disparate approaches together.

Reproductive biology of the male Cape porcupine

The reproductive tract of the male Cape porcupine is morphologically and histologically similar to that of New World hystricomorph rodents. Males are reproductively active throughout the year and attained sexual maturity (complete spermatogenesis) at an age of 8-18 months. Testes weight, epididymides weight and seminiferous tubule diameter attained asymptotic values at the age of 23-30 months. ...

Decision Making in Recurrent Neuronal Circuits

Decision making has recently emerged as a central theme in neurophysiological studies of cognition, and experimental and computational work has led to the proposal of a cortical circuit mechanism of elemental decision computations. This mechanism depends on slow recurrent synaptic excitation balanced by fast feedback inhibition, which not only instantiates attractor states for forming categoric...

Cranes of the World: 5. Comparative Reproductive Biology

What can spermatogonial transplants teach us about male reproductive biology?

In this issue of Endocrinology, there is a rapid communication by Mahato et al. (1) that addresses the issue of estrogen action directly on germinal cells in the testis. The authors transplanted germ cells from the testis of the estrogen receptor a (ERa) knockout mice into the seminiferous tubules of germ cell-depleted wild-type mice. The germ cells carrying the knockout mutation underwent qual...