Lynwood G. Clemens

Professor

Ph.D., University of California, Berkeley, 1966

31 Giltner Hall
Office Telephone: 517-353-1727
clemens@msu.edu

Neurobiology and Behavior

I am interested in how the nervous system regulates sexual behavior in laboratory rodents. Since this behavior is influenced by gonadal hormones acting in specific brain regions, as well as peripheral nerve sites, experimentation focuses on the mechanisms of hormone action within localized regions of the nervous system. These experiments involve a variety of immunocytochemical and microscopy techniques that allow us to measure the characteristics of nerve cells that are active during reproductive behavior. Of particular interest are studies that show sex differences in the nervous system. These differences arise during early development and so our analyses often involve examination of the developmental aspects of the brain and behavior. Since animals are particularly sensitive to physiological events during early development, some of our recent work has focused on the effect of endocrine disruptors, or environmental contaminants, that have the potential to act like, or disrupt endogenous gonadal hormones. Because reproductive behaviors, like most other behaviors, are also sensitive to the environmental context within which they occur, recent studies have also examined contextual influences on reproductive behavior.

Representative Publications

Fang, J., Y-W. Chung, and L.G. Clemens. 2000. Relation of Fos-IR expression in the pelvic ganglion to sexual behavior in laboratory rats. Behavioral Neuroscience, In press.

Yang, L.Y. and L.G. Clemens. 2000. MPOA lesions affect female pacing of copulation in rats. Behavioral Neuroscience, In press.

Fang, J. and L.G. Clemens. 1999. Contextual determinants of female-female mounting in laboratory rats. Animal Behavior. 57:545-555

Chung, Y-W. and L.G. Clemens. 1999. Effects of perinatal exposure to polychlorinate biphenyls on development of female sexual behavior. Bull. Environ. Contam. Toxicol. 62:664-670

Yang, L.Y. and L.G. Clemens. 1998. Influence of male-related stimuli on female postejaculatory refractory period in rats. Physiology and Behavior 63:675-682

Wagner, C.K., C.L. Sisk, and L.G. Clemens. 1993. The spinal nucleus of the bulbocavernosus receives estrogen-sensitive afferents from the paraventricular nucleus of the hypothalamus in the male rat. J. Neuroendocrinology 5:545-551

Clemens, L.G., G.P. Dohanich and P. Barr. 1983. Cholinergic regulation of feminine sexual behavior in laboratory rats. Chapter in Hormones and Behavior in Higher Vertebrates. (Ed. by J. Balthzzart, E. Prove and R. Gilles). Springer-Verlag Press, 1983, pp. 56-68.