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 Neuroscience and Reproductive Biology
Director, Combined DVM/MS Program in Comparative Biomedical Sciences
Department of Biomedical Sciences
Phone: 508-839-7985
Fax: 508-839-7091
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

Postdoctoral Fellowships - Rutgers University 1975-1977; UCLA 1977-1978

Laboratory Personnel

Dr. Jay Byrnes, Ph.D., Research Assistant Professor
Dr. Erin Gleason, Ph.D., TEACRS Postdoctoral Fellow
Dr. Benjamin Nephew, Ph.D., Reseach Assistant Professor
Lindsay Carini, Sr. Research Technician

Section Collaborators

Dr. Elizabeth Byrnes, Ph.D., Assistant Professor
Dr. Phyllis Mann, Ph.D., Associate Professor

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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.

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Research Sponsor Interest
Federally Funded Research - NIH/NICHD; NIH/NCRR

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

  2. 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.

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

  4. Grattan DR, Bridges RS. Prolactin actions in the brain. In: Hormones, Brain and Behavior, 2nd Edition, Academic Press, San Diego, Vol. 4, pp. 2471-2503, 2009.

  5. Consiglio AR, Bridges RS.  Circulating prolactin, MPOA prolactin receptor expression and maternal aggression in lactating rats.  Behavioral Brain Research, 197:97-102, 2009.

  6. Bridges RS, Nephew BC. Neuroendocrine control: maternal behavior. In “The New Encyclopedia of Neuroscience” (L. Squire et al., eds.). Elsevier, Oxford, Vol. 6; pp. 333-342, 2009.

  7. Fleming AS., Numan, M, Bridges, RS.  Father of Mothering: Jay S. Rosenblatt, Hormones and Behavior55:484-487,2009.

  8. Byrnes EM, Babb JA, Bridges RS. Differential expression of oestrogen receptor α following reproductive experience in young and middle-aged female rats.  J. Neuroendocrinology 21:550-557, 2009.

  9. Nephew BC, Bridges RS, Lovelock DF, Byrnes EM. Enhanced maternal aggression and associated changes in neuropeptide gene expression in multiparous rats.  Behavioral Neuroscience 123:949-957, 2009.

  10. Furuta M, Bridges RS. Effects of maternal behavior induction and pup exposure on neurogenesis in adult, virgin female rats.  Brain Research Bulletin 80:408-413, 2009.

  11. Nephew BC, Byrnes EM, Bridges RS. Vasopressin mediates enhanced offspring protection in multiparous rats. Neuropharmacology, 58:102-106, 2010.

  12. Bridges RS, Scanlan VF, Lee J-O, Byrnes EM.  Reproductive experience alters prolactin receptor expression in mammary and hepatic tissues in female rats.  Biology of Reproduction, published ahead of print April 20, 2011, doi:10.1095/bioreprod.111.091918.

  13. Nephew BC, Bridges RS. Effects of chronic social stress during lactation on maternal behavior and growth.  Stress, in press, 2011.

  14. Byrnes JJ, Gleason ED, Schoen MF, Carini L, Lovelock DF, Byrnes EM, Bridges RS. Accelerated maternal responding after intra-VTA pertussins toxin treatment. Behavioral Brain Research, in press, 2011.

  15. Sapsford T, Kokay IC, Ostberg L, Bridges RS, Grattan DR Differential sensitivity of specific neuronal populations of the rat hypothalamus to prolactin stimulation.  Journal of Comparative Neurology, in press.

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