My lab is interested in how the ovarian steroid hormones, estradiol and progesterone, act in the brain to regulate gene expression and female reproductive behavior in rodents. These hormones elicit many of their biological effects by binding to their respective intracellular steroid receptors located in specific brain regions.  Nuclear receptor coactivators have been found to dramatically enhance the transcriptional activity of steroid receptors (see the Nuclear Receptor Signaling Atlas). We have found that neurons, located in brain regions that regulate reproduction, coexpress steroid receptors and nuclear receptor coactivators (Figure 1).  In addition, we are exploring how these coactivators function with steroid receptors in brain to activate behaviorally-relevant genes (Figure 2).  More recently, we have been using protein-protein interaction assays (Figure 3) to explore which coactivators from brain interact with estrogen and progestin receptors (Figure 4).  One goal of our research is to identify novel coactivators and other proteins that function in hormone action in the brain.  By enhancing our knowledge of hormone action, we may better understand mechanisms involved in a variety of hormone-dependent diseases, including breast cancer. 

In addition, our lab is collaborating with Adele Wolfson's lab in the Chemistry Department to investigate the expression and regulation of the enzyme thimet oligopeptidase (TOP) in rodent brain.

Selected Publications (* indicates undergraduate co-author)

Molenda-Figueira, H.A, *Murphy, S.D., *Shea, K.L., *Siegal, N.K., Zhao, Y., Chadwick, J.G., Denner, L.A. and Tetel, M.J. Steroid receptor coactivator-1 from brain physically interacts differentially with steroid receptor subtypes. Endocrinology, 2008. PDF

Gonzales, K.L., Tetel, M.J. and Wagner, C.K. Estrogen receptor (ER) modulates ER to facilitate anatomically specific actions of estradiol in developing brain. Endocrinology, 2008. PDF

Tetel, M.J. and Lange, C.A. Molecular genomics of progestin actions. In: Hormones, Brain and Behavior (Pfaff, D.W., Arnold, A.P., Etgen, A.M., Fahrbach, S.E. and Rubin, R. Eds), in press.

Pfaff, D.W., Tetel M.J. and Schober, J.M. Neuroendocrinology: Mechanisms by which hormones affect behaviors. In: Handbook of Neuroscience for the Behavioral Sciences (Bernston, G. and Cacioppo, J.T. eds), 2008, in press.

McGinnis, M.Y., Lumia, A.R., Tetel, M.J., Molenda-Figueira, H.A. and Possidente, B. Effects of anabolic androgenic steroids on the development and expression of activity and circadian rhythms in male rats. Physiology & Behavior, 2007. PDF

Tetel, M.J., *Siegal, N.K., *Murphy, S.D. Cells in behaviourally relevant brain regions coexpress nuclear receptor coactivators and ovarian steroid receptors. Journal of Neuroendocrinology 19: 262-271, 2007. PDF

Molenda-Figueira, H.A., *Williams, C.A., *Griffin, A.L., Rutledge, E.M., Blaustein, J.D. and Tetel, M.J. Nuclear receptor coactivators function in estrogen receptor- and progestin receptor-dependent aspects of sexual behavior in female rats. Hormones and Behavior 50: 383-392, 2006. PDF

Tetel, M.J., Ungar, T.C., *Hassan, B., and Bittman, E.L. Photoperiodic regulation of androgen receptor and Steroid Receptor Coactivator-1 in Siberian hamster brain. Molecular Brain Research 131: 79-87, 2004. PDF

Molenda, H.A., *Kilts, C.P., *Allen, R.L. and Tetel, M.J. Nuclear receptor coactivator function in reproductive physiology and behavior. Biology of Reproduction 69: 1449-1457, 2003. PDF

Auger, A.P., Perrot-Sinal, T.S., Auger, C.J., Ekas, L.A., Tetel, M.J. and McCarthy, M.M. Expression of the nuclear receptor coactivator, CREB-binding protein, is sexually dimorphic and modulates sexual differentiation of neonatal rat brain. Endocrinology 143: 3009-3016, 2002. PDF

Molenda, H.A., *Griffin, A.L., Auger, A.P., Tetel, M.J. Nuclear receptor coactivator function in hormone-dependent gene expression in brain and female reproductive behavior in rats. Endocrinology 143: 436-444, 2002. PDF

Greco, B., Tetel, M.J., Allegretto, E.A., Blaustein, J.D. Coexpression of ER-beta and ER-alpha and progestin receptor proteins in the female rat forebrain: Effects of estradiol treatment. Endocrinology 142: 5172-5181, 2001. PDF

Auger, A.P., Tetel, M.J. and McCarthy, M.M. Steroid receptor co-activator-1 mediates the development of sex specific brain morphology and behavior. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 97: 7551-7555, 2000. PDF

Tetel, M.J. Nuclear receptor coactivators in neuroendocrine function. Journal of Neuroendocrinology 12: 927-932, 2000. PDF

Tetel, M.J., Giangrande, P.H., Leonhardt, S.A., McDonnell, D.P. and Edwards, D.P. Hormone-dependent interaction between the amino- and carboxyl-terminal domains of progesterone receptor in vitro and in vivo. Molecular Endocrinology 13: 910-924, 1999. PDF

Tetel, M.J., Jung, S., Carbajo, P., Ladtkow, T., Skafar, D.F., Edwards, D.P. Hinge and amino-terminal sequences contribute to solution dimerization of human progesterone receptor. Molecular Endocrinology 11: 1114-1128, 1997. PDF