ntcKcom
6ukc univcusity mcdicM ccnteR
VOLUME 20, NUMBER 2
January 12, 1973
DURHAM, NORTH CAROLINA
Grant Awarded
Anatomy Prof.
A medical center researcher has been
awarded a $59,700 grant from the
National Science Foundation for a
project aimed at identifying the nerve
connections in the brain controlling
fertility.
Dr. John W. Everett, professor of
anatomy, is attempting to identify the
nerve mechanisms in the hypothalamic
region of the brain which control the
pituitary gland and cause it to release the
hormone that triggers ovulation.
The funds awarded under the two-year
grant bring the total NSF support for the
project to $1 12,700. Dr. Everett's
research has been supported by the same
agency through previous grants since
1957.
The hypothalamus, a region in the
base of the brain, produces hormones
which stimulate the pituitary to release
hormones that regulate other functions in
the body.
One of two hypothalamic hormones
which scientists have identified and
synthesized is called LRF—luteinizing
hormone releasing factor. LRF stimulates
the pituitary to release its gonadotrophic
hormones, which in turn, stimulate
secretion of sex hormones by the gonads
and trigger ovulation.
Everett's project, titled "Neu'ral
Mechanisms Controlling the Pituitary
Gland," is aimed at localizing the exact
nerve connections in the brain regulating
the production of LRF. By stimulating
various areas of the hypothalamus and
then measuring the amount of
gonadotrophic pituitary hormone in the
blood stream, he can get an indirect
measurement of the LRF produced by
stimulation of that area.
"One of our major concerns is the
timing mechanism that controls when the
pituitary gland secretes the hormone that
triggers ovulation," Everett said.
(Continued on page 4)
DOWN THE HATCH—Boyce of Oceaneering International Inc. disappears into
the Hyperbaric Chamber's "wet pot" to prepare a work project for the divers who will
participate in the high pressure experiment scheduled to begin next week. The
ergometer he is setting up will help scientists measure the work efficiency of divers
using different types of breathing gear, (photo by Dale Moses)
Take Pressure Plunge
Divers Dip Deep at Duke
A team of six professional divers will
enter the hyperbaric chamber here next
week for a simulated dive to depths
ranging up to 1,000 feet.
It will be the first time in four years
that divers at Duke have gone that depth.
In 1968 a Duke team set records by
staying at 1,000 feet for 72 hours and
demonstrating that humans could
perform work at that depth.
The dive next week, called "Deep
Work 1000", will be a multidisciplinary
mission to test the performance of
humans and life-support equipment at
various depths.
Participants in the mission will be the
University of Florida Communications
Science Laboratory, the Smithsonian
Institution, Harbor Branch Foundation,
Oceaneering International Inc. of
Houston, Tex., the Naval Medical
Research Institute, the National Oceanic
and Atmospheric Agency and Duke
University's departments of mechanical
engineering, anesthesiology, physiology
and pharmacology and the F. G. Hall
Laboratory for Environmental Research.
The coordinator and manager of the
dive will be L. Sigfred Linderoth Jr., a
professor of mechanical engineering at
Duke.
Three of the divers will be provided by
Oceaneering International and three by
(Continued on page 3}