Christina L Williams, Professor

Research Summary:
My research uses both mouse and rat models to examine how nutrients and hormones alter the course of brain and behavioral development. For example, we find that supplementing or depleting nutrients like choline or folate from the maternal diet have long-term consequences on rats' memory function during early development, in adulthood, and into old age. Specifically, choline supplementation appears to improve memory while short periods of choline deprivations during prenatal development appears to selectively impair attentional processes. A second line of research examines the effects of estrogen and other steroid hormones on brain and memory function across the lifespan. I am interested in both early developmental effects of estrogens (that is, the development of sex differences in cognition) as well as effects of replacement estrogens after reproductive senescence. Recently our laboratory has begun to use various genetically altered strains of mice (knockouts and transgene) to examine how nutrients and hormones during development may interact with genotype to alter the development of learning and memory processes.

Representative Publications:   (More Publications)

1. Sandstrom, N.J., Loy, R., & Williams (2002). "Prenatal Choline Supplementation Increaes NGF Levels in the Hippocampus and Frontal Cortex of Young and Adult Rats". Brain Research, 947, 9-16.
2. Mohler, E.G., Meck, W.H., & Williams, C.L. (2001). Sustained Attention in Adult Mice is Modulated by Prenatal Choline Availability. International Journal of Comparative Psychology, 14, 136-150. (Special Issue on Behavior & Neurogenomics).
3. Sandstrom, N.J. & Williams, C.L. (2001). Memory Retention is Modulated by Acute Estradiol and Progesterone Replacement. Behavioral Neuroscience, 115, 384-393.
4. Montoya, D.A.C., White, A.M., Williams, C.L., Blusztajn, J.K., Meck, W.H., & Swartzwelder, H.S. (2000). Prenatal Choline Exposure Alters Hippocampal Responsiveness to Cholinergic Stimulation in Adulthood. Developmental Brain Research, 123, 25-32.
5. Williams, C.L. "Hormones and Cognition." Behavioral Endocrinology. Ed. Becker, J.B., Breedlove, S.M., & Crews, D. Boston, MA, MIT Press, 2002: 527-577.
6. C.L. Williams & Mohler, E.G. "Prenatal Choline Supplementation Modifies Brain Development: Improved Cognition and Neuroprotection." Diet-Brain Connections: Impact on Memory, Aging and Disease. Ed. M. Mattson Dordrecht, The Netherlands: Kluwer Academic, 2002: 1-14.

Typical Courses Taught::

• Psy 380s, Behavioral & computational neuroscience

• Psy 91, Introduction to the biological basis of behavior Synopsis

• Psy 150s, Hormones and behavior Synopsis