erskine@bu.edu

Endocrinology and Reproductive Biology Neuroendocrinology Animal Behavior

Professor of Biology
Ph.D., University of Connecticut, 1978

Behavioral Neuroscience, Reproductive Endocrinology and Behavior

Organisms are able to show adaptive physiological and behavioral responses to life experience.    These responses occur because of changes in brain function. My work seeks to understand how sensory input and behavioral expression have long-lasting effects on functional systems in brain. I study the neural and endocrine mechanisms by which the behavior of animals induces neuroendocrine responses and how these changes are stored in the CNS. This research addresses questions of learning and memory and brain plasticity using an animal's natural behavior.

The model system we use is the induction of prolactin secretion by mating stimulation in the female rat. Mating and the resulting secretion of prolactin are required to initiate pregnancy in this and many other species. This paradigm provides a simple, neuroethological approach to the study of brain plasticity. Our studies have identified naturally occurring patterns of behavior which insure that somatosensory stimuli critical for pregnancy are received and have shown that these behaviors alter the subsequent patterns of hormone secretion for many days.   Our primary focus is to determine how the memory for mating stimulation is established.

Current areas of investigation include examination of which CNS circuits are important for the transduction of somatosensory stimulation into neuroendocrine response and which associated neurotransmitter and neuropeptide systems are involved in this process. We have characterized immediate early gene responses to mating stimulation within the hypothalamus, hippocampus and amygdala and are examining how long-term neuronal changes are produced in these areas.   We are pursuing studies on the effects of glutamate receptor activation on storage of mating stimuli, the role of norepinephrine neurons in encoding genitosensory stimulation in brain and effects of estrogen and progesterone on this storage process.   Lastly, we are examining whether oxytocin-containing cells in the hypothalamus are involved in stimulating prolactin secretion from the pituitary.

I welcome under-represented minorities in my lab.

Lehmann, M.L., McIntyre, D. and Erskine, M.S.   Changes in Electrical Activity within the Medial Amygdala of Kindling-Prone (FAST) and Kindling-Resistant (SLOW) Rats During Mating Stimulation: Effects of Inter-Stimulus-Interval. In preparation.

Weaver, C., Polston, E. and Erskine, M.S. Genitosensory stimuli received during mating induced c-fos expression in estrogen-receptor-"-positive cells that carry the NR1 subunit of the NMDA receptor.   In preparation.

Yang JA, Oberlander JG, and Erskine. 2006. Expression of FOS, EGR-1, and ARC in the amygdala and hippocampus of female rats during formation of the intromission mnemonic of pseudopregnancy. J. Neurobiology, in press.

Northrop L., Shadrach J. and Erskine, M.S. 2006. Noradrenergic innervation of the ventromedial hypothalamus is involved in mating-induced pseudopregnancy in the female rat.   J. Neuroendocrinology, 18:577-583 .

Lehmann, M.L. and Erskine, M.S. 2005. Glutamatergic stimulation of the medial amygdala induces steroid dependent c-fos expression within forebrain nuclei responsive to mating stimulation.   Neuroscience, 136:55-64.

Erskine, M.S. 2005. Learning about sex: Conditioning of partner preference.   Theoretical comment on Coria-Avila, et al. Behavioral Neuroscience, 119:1136-1139.

Lehmann, M.L., McKellar, H., and Erskine, M.S.  2005. Coding for the Initiation of Pseudopregnancy by Temporally Patterned Activation of Amygdalar NMDA Receptors.   Journal of Neuroscience, 25:8696-8703, 2005

Lehmann, M.L. and Erskine, M.S. 2004. Induction of pseudopregnancy using artificial VCS: Importance of lordosis intensity and prestimulus estrous cycle length.   Hormones & Behavior, 45:75-83.

Erskine, M.S., Lehmann, M.L., Cameron, N. and Polston, E.K. 2004. Co-Regulation of female sexual behavior and the induction of pseudopregnancy: An exploratory synthesis. Behavioural Brain Research, 153:295-315.

Cameron, N., Ha, G. and Erskine, M.S.   2004. Fos expresssion after mating in noradrenergic cells of the A1 and A2 areas of the medulla is altered   by adrenalectomy.   J. Neuroendocrinology, 16:750-757.

Cameron, N., Carey P. and Erskine, M.S. 2004. Medullary noradrenergic neurons projecting from the A1 and A2 cell groups release norepinephrine in the medial amygdala after mating stimulation sufficient for pseudopregnancy. Brain Research , 1022:137-147.

Cameron N, Ha GK, Erskine MS. 2003. Effect of adrenalectomy on mating-induced prolactin surges and pseudopregnancy in the female rat. Neuroendocrinology. Sep;78(3):138-46.

Cameron N, Erskine MS. 2003. c-FOS expression in the forebrain after mating in the female rat is altered by adrenalectomy. Neuroendocrinology. May;77(5):305-13.

Blaustein, J.D. and Erskine, M.S. 2001. Feminine sexual behavior: cellular integration of hormonal and afferent information in the rodent forebrain. In: Hormones, Brain and Behavior, Pfaff, et al., eds., Academic Press, San Diego, in press.

Polston, E.K., Heitz, M., Barnes, W., Cardamone, K. and Erskine, M.S. 2001. NMDA receptor activation within the medial amygdala initiates a neuroendocrine memory responsible for pseudopregnancy in the female rat. J. Neuroscience 21:4104-4110.

Polston, E.K. and Erskine, M.S. 2000. Excitotoxic lesions of the medial amygdala differentially disrupt prolactin secretory responses in cycling and mated female rats. J. Neuroendocrinology 13:1-10.

Lee, J.W. and Erskine, M.S. 2000. Changes in pain threshold and lumbar spinal cord immediate-early gene expression induced by paced and nonpaced mating in female rats. Brain Research 861:26-36.

Lee, J.W. and Erskine, M.S. 2000. Pseudorabies virus tracing of neural pathways between the uterine cervix and CNS: Effects of survival time, estrogen treatment, rhizotomy and pelvic nerve transection. Journal of Comparative Neurology 418:484-503.

Questions and comments are always welcome.
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This document was last modified on November 17, 2006.