Methodological Approaches

Remove sampling for in vivo studies

Since its inception as a NIH-funded Center for Population Research in 1978, the University of Pittsburgh's Center for Research in Reproductive Physiology (CRRP) has been instrumental in identifying the physiological mechanisms that underlie the essential components of primate reproduction including menstrual cyclicity, spermatogenesis and puberty as well as the influences of environmental and social perturbations upon these processes. The success of the CRRP to date has been its repeated ability to conduct physiologically relevant studies which have included careful measurements of moment-to moment changes in the blood levels of gonadotropic hormones and gonadal steroids to define the feedback relationships between the hypothalamus, the pituitary gland and the gonads. In addition, the CRRP has used the non-human primate model to directly identify the roles of hormones on the reproductive system through its use of physiological infusion protocols. A major reason for this success has been the use of chronic indwelling catheters which allows for continuous access to the venous system as well as cerebrospinal fluid for moment to moment sampling as well as for the infusion of hormones and/or pharmacological agents.

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