A second project in the lab is focused on understanding how environmental pollutants disrupt neural processes that control ovulation. There is evidence that certain dioxin-like pollutants may block the signal for ovulation. He has found that calorie deprivation inhibits reproduction in large part by altering the brain s sensitivity to female sex hormones. Using animal models, he has examined the effects of diet, body fat stores, and energy expenditure on the neural circuits that control sexual behaviors and ovulation. Fite s research is concerned with how the brain receives, processes, and interprets visual information transmitted from the retina of the eye.
Visual stimulation plays a major role in perception and guidance of behaviors.
In addition, light stimulation influences biological rhythms, moods, and emotions, although relatively little is known about how such effects take place in the brain. Neurons in this cell group produce much of the neurotransmitter, serotonin, that has widespread effects throughout the brain and nervous system. Recently, there has been much attention paid to estradiol s action in the brain because of other research showing that estradiol may protect against cognitive decline associated with aging as well as against some of the decline associated with Alzheimer s disease. Research by de Vries suggests that behaviors that do not differ between males and females may still have a different neurochemical basis. In studying a rodent species in which both males and females participate in parenting, and examining differences in the brain chemistry between the males and females of this species, he has found that hormonal changes associated with pregnancy prime the females brains for parental behavior.