Professor, Center for Neuroendocrine Studies, Neuroscience and Behavior Program and Psychology Department, University of Massachusetts-Amherst, Amherst, MA 01003
Education: B.S. University of Massachusetts, Amherst, 1973; Ph.D. University of Massachusetts, Amherst, 1977
Postdoctoral Experience: Institute of Animal Behavior, Rutgers University, Newark, NJ
In order to learn how hormones act in the brain to modify brain function and behavior and how the social environment can influences these processes, we study the cellular and neuroanatomical mechanisms of ovarian steroid hormone action on reproductive behavior and the interactions between neurotransmitters and steroid hormone receptors.
We study the cellular processes by which steroid
hormones act in neurons, particularly with respect to their involvement in reproductive
behavior. During the estrous cycle of
female rats and other rodent species, the ovarian hormones, estradiol and progesterone,
regulate the expression of reproductive behaviors. The sensitivity of specific
neurons to each of the hormones is determined in part by the concentrations
of hormone-specific intracellular receptors. Intracellular steroid hormone receptors
are essential in mediating the effects of steroid hormones on some behaviors,
possibly by modulating gene transcription and synthesis of specific proteins.
It has been widely held that in order for steroid
receptors to be activated, hormone must be available to bind to the receptors.
However, in collaboration with others, we have shown that neurotransmitters
can activate steroid hormone receptors without hormone.
Furthermore, we have shown that mating stimulation by a male rat can
activate the female’s neural steroid hormone receptors. This activation in turn
causes neuronal changes, which result in changes in behavior and physiology. These hormone-independent changes resemble those
induced by hormone-dependent activation of the receptors. In other words, the male’s behavior toward the
female, which alters neurotransmitters in her brain, does many of the same things
that the hormones secreted from her ovaries can. This provides a model for the regulation of
hormonally regulated processes by environmental stimulation, including but not
limited to, social stimulation.
We use a variety of biochemical and anatomical
techniques including immunocytochemistry, in situ hybridization, tract-tracing
in conjunction with steroid hormone receptor immunocytochemistry, electron microscopy,
steroid hormone receptor binding assays, intracranial
application of neuroactive substances, radioimmunoassay, and behavioral observation.
In many experiments, we study hormonal processes at the level of individual
neurons as well at the behavioral level. We
have also begun to use unique strains of mice, which either have one of the
steroid hormone receptors “knocked-out,” or which have a gene inserted that
allows us to monitor activation of steroid hormone receptors. We will be able to use these “transgenic” strains
of mice to determine the factors that can activate steroid hormone receptors
without steroid hormones being present, and we will determine precisely in which
neurons this occurs.
In other activities, I serve as an editor of Endocrinology, the basic research journal of the Endocrine Society, I serve as treasurer of the Society for Behavioral Neuroendocrinology, and I am a member of a network on "Sex, Drugs and the Brain" of the Society for Women's Health Research.
Address:
Recent Publications (with links to Medline Pub Med abstracts and some pdf files)
Links:
Center for Neuroendocrine Studies, University of Massachusetts
Neuroscience and Behavior Program, University of Massachusetts
Psychology
Department, University of Massachusetts
University
of Massachusetts