Research
Interests
The long term objective of my research program is to
determine how the brain regulates sex differences in behavior in laboratory
rodents. These sex differences reflect the influence of gonadal hormones
acting at specific sites in both the central and peripheral nervous systems,
as well as the effects of experiences that occur during early development.
Experimentation, therefore, focuses both on the mechanism of hormone action
on the nervous system as well as the mechanisms by which early experience
affects adult behavior. This research program utilizes chemical stimulation
of the brain to determine the potential influence of specific brain receptors,
assay procedures to measure endogenous changes in putative neurotransmitter
receptors, immunocytochemical procedures to determine location and activity
of specific types of cells, and neuroanatomical tract tracing techniques
to understand afferent and efferent connections of the various cell groups
involved in this behavior. Current work emphasizes the role of maternal
care in the development of behavioral sex differences and the function
of the autonomic nervous system in mediating these behavioral differences.
Please feel free to contact me if you
have any questions about my research.
Selected Publications
Search all publications in the NCBI Journal Database
Simmons, S.L., Cummings, J.A., Clemens, L.G. and Nunez, A.A. 2005 Exposure to PCB 77 affects the maternal behavior of rats. Physiology and Behavior. 84:81-86
Yang, L.-Y. and L. G. Clemens (2000). MPOA lesions affect female pacing of copulation in rats. Behav Neuroscience 114: 1191.
Fang, J. and L. G. Clemens (1999). Contextual determinants of female-female mounting in laboratory rats. Animal Behavior 57: 545-555.
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Lynwood
Clemens