Education | Laboratory Personnel | General Research Interest | Selected Research Projects
Research and Clinical Interests | Major Specialized Equipment Items Available | Selected Publications
TCSVM Faculty

Robert S. Bridges
Professor
Head, Section of Reproduction and Neurobiology
Director, Combined DVM/MS Program in Comparative Biomedical Sciences
Department of Biomedical Sciences
Neuroendocrinology
Phone: 508-839-7985
Email: robert.bridges@tufts.edu

Education
B.A. Biology - Earlham College - 1969
M.S. BioBehavioral Sciences - University of Connecticut - 1972
Ph.D. Endocrinology - University of Connecticut - 1974

Laboratory Personnel

Elizabeth M. Byrnes, Ph.D., Research Assistant Professor
Benjamin Nephew, Postdoctoral Fellow
Kerriann Casey, Research Technician
Dennis Lovelock, Research Technician

Back to the Top

General Research Interest
A combination of physiological, anatomical, molecular and genetic approaches are used to elucidate basic neurobiological processes underlying mammalian brain function together with the biological bases of reproductive physiology and behavior. Specific projects examine the involvement of the endocrine and nervous systems in the regulation of maternal behavior and the effects of reproductive experience in the female on subsequent neural functions. Studies using the rat as an animal model are delineating the role of the neural prolactin-like system in the onset of maternal behavior and in maternal memory. Possible alterations in brain dopamine systems as a function of reproductive experience are studied in the context of neuroendocrine and behavioral plasticity. Project objectives include understanding the neurobiology of affiliative responses and disorders, ie. post-partum depression.

Back to the Top

Research Sponsor Interest
Federally Funded Research

Selected Research Projects

  1. "Endocrine Regulation of Maternal Behavior" This NIH funded project examines the biological regulation of maternal behavior in mammals, using the rat as a model. Central sites of endocrine regulation of the onset of maternal care and neurochemical events responsible for the maintenance and retention of maternal behavior are studied.
  2. "Neuroendocrine Consequences of Reproductive Experience" - This NIH funded project examines the long-term effects of prior pregnancies and lactations on neurochemical functions associated with behavioral and hormonal states. A primary focus is on alterations in neural dopaminergic function resulting from reproductive experience. Studies are conducted using a rat model.

Research and Clinical Interests

  1. Surgical approaches include stereotaxic surgery and routine endocrine surgeries.
  2. Lab techniques include radioimmunosassays for hormones, in situ hybridization histochemistry, and immunocytochemistry for neural peptides and receptors. Research Technique
  3. Behavioral assays include measurement of parental behavior, elevated-plus maze, activity chambers (computerized), assessment of pain, and testing for reproductive behaviors.

Major Specialized Equipment Items Available
Gamma counter, cryostats, microscopes, behavioral apparatus

Selected Publications

  1. Bridges RS, Rigero BA, Byrnes EM, Yang L, Walker AM. Central infusions of the recombinant human prolactin antagonist, S179D-PRL, delay the onset of maternal behavior in steroid-primed, nulliparous female rats. Endocrinology 142:730-739, 2001.

  2. Bridges RS, Thankey KP, Scanlan VF. Duration of daily test pup exposure in adult, nulliparous rats alters maternal behavior induction rats: implications for animal use numbers. Contemporary Topics in Laboratory Animal Research 43:28-31, 2004.

  3. Furuta M, Bridges RS. Gestation-induced cell proliferation in the rat brain. Developmental Brain Research 156:61-66, 2005.

  4. Byrnes EM, Bridges RS. Lactation reduces prolactin levels in reproductively experienced female rats. Hormones and Behavior 48:278-282, 2005.

  5. Bridges RS, Hays LE Steroid-induced alterations in mRNA expression of the long-form of the prolactin receptor in the medial preoptic area of female rats: effects of exposure to a pregnancy-like regimen of progesterone and estradiol. Molecular Brain Research 140:10-16, 2005.

  6. Anderson GM, Grattan DR, van den Ancker W, Bridges RS.  Reproductive experience increases prolactin responsiveness in the medial preoptic area and arcuate nucleus of female rats.  Endocrinology  147:4688-4694, 2006.

  7. Byrnes EM, Bridges RS, Scanlan VF, Babb JA, Byrnes JJ. Sensorimotor gating and dopamine function during the postpartum period in rats. Neuropsychopharmacology  22 :1021-1031, 2007.

  8. Nephew BC, Amico J, Cai, HM, Walker AM, Bridges RS.  Intracerebroventricular administration of the prolactin receptor antagonist, S179D PRL, disrupts parturition in rats.  Reproduction 134 :155-160, 2007.

  9. Byrnes EM, Lee J-O, Bridges RS.  Alterations in GABAA receptor a2 subunit mRNA expression following reproductive experience in rats.  Neuroendocrinology 85 :148-156, 2007.

  10. Byrnes EM, Bridges RS.  Reproductive experience and expression of dopamine D2 receptor mRNA: a possible mechanism for reduced prolactin secretion in primiparous rats.   J Neuroendocrinology 19 :773-778, 2007.

  11. Bridges RS, Nephew BC. Neuroendocrine control: maternal behavior. In “The New Encyclopedia of Neuroscience” (L. Squire et al., eds.). Elsevier, Oxford, in press, 2008.

  12. Bridges RS. Parenting and the brain: an overview.  In “Neurobiology of the Parental Brain” (RS Bridges, Ed.), Academic Press, pp. xxix-xxxvi, 2008.

  13. Febo M, Stolberg TL, Numan M, Bridges RS, Kulkarni P, Ferris CF. Nursing stimulation is more than tactile sensation: it is a multisensory experience.  Hormones and Behavior 54:330-339, 2008.

  14. Nephew BC, Bridges RS. The role of arginine vasopressin in maternal agrression in the rat. Pharmacology, Biochemistry and Behavior, 91:77-83, 2008. 
     

     

Back to the Top