Kate Guerriero

Campus Address: 1220 Capitol Ct, Madison, WI 53715

Major Professor: Dr. Ei Terasawa

Email: kguerriero@wisc.edu

Degree Objective: Ph.D.

Background: BS - University of Pittsburgh

Research Summary:

It has been well established that the onset of puberty is triggered by an increase in the release of pulsatile hypothalamic luteinizing hormone-releasing hormone (LHRH), which travels to the anterior pituitary and elicits the pulsatile release of luteinizing hormone (LH) and follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) into the systemic circulation.  Once LH and FSH reach the gonads, steroidogenesis and gametogenesis are stimulated. Gonadal steroids such as estrogen (E), in turn, provide feedback to the hypothalamus, thus regulating the amplitude and frequency of pulsatile LHRH release.

Recent clinical studies in patients with hypogonadotropic hypogonadism (HH), which results in a delay or absence of puberty, have shown that the kisspeptin/G-protein coupled receptor 54 (KP/GPR54) signaling pathway may be involved in regulating the pubertal increase in LHRH release.  Therefore, in this study three experiments have been proposed to examine the hypothesis that KP plays an important role in the pubertal increase in LHRH release from the hypothalamus in primates. 

Publications:

Roseweir AK, Kauffman AS, Smith JT, Guerriero KA, Morgan K, Pielecka-Fortuna J, Pineda R, Gottsch ML, Tena-Sempere M, Moenter SM, Terasawa E, Clarke IJ, Steiner RA, Millar RP. Discovery of potent kisspeptin antagonists delineate physiological mechanisms of gonadotropin regulation. J Neurosci. 2009 Mar 25;29(12):3920-9. PubMed PMID: 19321788.

Ramaswamy S, Guerriero KA, Gibbs RB, Plant TM. Structural interactions between kisspeptin and GnRH neurons in the mediobasal hypothalamus of the male rhesus monkey (Macaca mulatta) as revealed by double immunofluorescence and confocal microscopy. Endocrinology. 2008 Sep;149(9):4387-95. PubMed PMID: 18511511; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC2553371.

Presentations:

38th Annual Society for Neuroscience Meeting.  November 15-19, 2008.  Washington, DC.  Oral Presentation: “Effects of a kisspeptin agonist and antagonist on the release of luteinizing hormone-releasing hormone-1 (LHRH-1) in female rhesus monkeys in vivo.”  Guerriero, KA, Keen, KL, Roseweir, AK, Millar, RP, Terasawa, E.

Presented by Ei Terasawa: 1st World Conference for Kisspeptin Signaling in the Brain. October 8-10, 2008.  Oral Presentation: “An increase in the frequency and mean release of kisspeptin-54 occurs along with the pubertal increase in LHRH release, but GPR54 sensitivity does not change at puberty in female monkeys in vivo.”  Terasawa, E, Guerriero, KA, Keen KL. Abstract #50.

Presented by Tony Plant: 90th Annual Endocrine Society Meeting.  June 15-18, 2008.  San Franciso, CA.  Poster: “Intimate and extensive interactions between kisspeptin and GnRH neurons throughout the median eminence of the Rhesus Monkey (Macaca Mulatta) indicate that kisspeptin control of GnRH release may be exerted at the level of GnRH terminals.”  Ramaswamy, S, Guerriero, KA, Gibbs, RB, Plant, TM.  Abstract #258.

4th Biennial Neuroscience Research Symposium.  August 22, 2008.  BioPharmaceutical Technology Center Institute, Madison, WI. Poster: “The role of kisspeptin in the pubertal increase of LHRH from the monkey hypothalamus: Agonist and antagonist effects.” Guerriero, KA, Terasawa, E, Keen, KL.  Abstract #P17.

2008 Annual Research Symposium, “From Cells to Society.”  April 4, 2008, Pyle Center, UW-Madison.  Poster: “The role of kisspeptin in the pubertal increase of LHRH from the monkey hypothalamus.”  Guerriero, KA, Terasawa, E, Keen, KL.  2008.  Abstract #22.