Research in the Sandstrom lab focuses on the roles that hormones play in the modulation of learning and memory as well as the neural substrates underlying learning and memory. Hormones such as estrogens, progestins and glucocorticoids are secreted from endocrine glands and circulate throughout the body. While they have long been known to act on peripheral structures, they also exert profound influences in neural tissue. Our lab is primarily concerned with understanding the mechanisms through which these and other hormones act in the brain to alter the neural substrates of learning and memory.
One ongoing project in our lab is investigating the neuroprotective properties of estrogens. Specifically, we are using the four vessel occlusion model of transient global ischemia which induces a cascade of events, ultimately resulting in significant cell death among the pyramidal neurons in the CA1 region of the hippocampus. This neural damage is associated with impairments in performance on a variety of hippocampally-dependent behavioral tasks such as the Morris water maze and radial arm maze. We are currently examining the behavioral and neuroanatomical effects of pretreatment with estradiol -- a manipulation that has been shown to limit the degree of ischemic damage to the hippocampus.
A second project that is ongoing in our lab concerns the long-term cognitive consequences of early life stress. This project uses a social isolation paradigm in which rats experience daily bouts of social isolation prior to weaning. This manipulation causes a variety of acute as well as lasting changes in physiology and behavior. Recent work in our lab has shown that daily bouts of social isolation in the third postnatal week lead to long term elevations in basal stress hormone levels (i.e., corticosterone) as well as impairments in working and reference memory as assessed on the radial arm maze task.
Students in the Sandstrom lab master a variety of sugical, behavioral, and histological techniques. Recent students have been involved in all phases of the research projects described above including: gonadectomies; ischemic lesioning; behavioral testing with the Morris water maze, radial arm maze, and classical/operant conditioning paradigms; perfusions; tissue dissection; and basic histological techniques. Some recent graduates from the lab have continued to medical school (Duke, Cornell, and others) or graduate school (Northwestern, UC-Irvine, Duke, and others).
Williams College undergraduate students interested in working in the Sandstrom lab are encouraged to contact Professor Sandstrom as well as current or former lab members. For more information on life in the Sandstrom lab, click the 'lab' link at the top of the page.
