B.S., Nutrition, New Mexico State University (1989) Ph.D., Animal Physiology, University of California, Davis (1998) Postdoctoral Research Associate: Section of Neurobiology, Physiology, and Behavior, Univ. Calif., Davis (1998-2000) Zoology Department, Oregon State University (2000-2004)

My primary research interests are in animal physiology. Previous studies in my lab at CSU-Pueblo have investigated behavioral thermoregulation in senescent rats. These studies have shown that the neural pathways involved in heat-seeking behavior in response to acute cold stress remain intact and functional as older rats advance into senescence. That is, senescent rats maintain a strong drive to seek a warm zone when placed in a thermal gradient following cold exposure. This occurs despite the fact that other key components of the thermoregulatory system become less functional in senescence, including brown adipose tissue thermogenesis. Heat gained passively from the warm environment reduces the metabolic energy that must be expended by the senescent rat during re-warming, sparing body energy stores that are already in decline from the rapid body weight loss that occurs at the transition to senescence.

Blanton, C. and A.M. Gabaldón (2012). Effect of dietary synbiotics on bone in mature male rats following recovery from hindlimb unloading. Int. J. Probiotics Prebiotics. Accepted, in press. Sarper, H., J. DePalma, I.V. Melnykov, C. Blanton, and A.M. Gabaldón (2012). Effect of simulated weightlessness and a synbiotic diet on rat bone mechanical strength using a three-point bending tester. In preparation. Roberts, T.J. and A.M. Gabaldón. Interpreting muscle function from EMG: lessons learned from direct measurements of muscle force. Integr. and Comp. Biol., 48 (2): 312-320, 2008. Gabaldón, A.M., F.E. Nelson, and T.J. Roberts. Relative shortening velocity in locomotor muscles: turkey ankle extensors operate at low V/Vmax. Am. J. Physiol. 294 (Regul. Integr. Comp. Physiol.): R200-R210, 2008. Roberts, T.J., B.K. Higginson, F.E. Nelson, and A.M. Gabaldón. Muscle strain is modulated more with running slope than speed in wild turkey knee and hip extensors. J. Exp. Biol. 210, 2510-2517, 2007. Gabaldón, A.M., F.E. Nelson, and T.J. Roberts. Mechanical function of two ankle extensors in wild turkeys: shifts from energy production to energy absorption during incline versus decline running. J. Exp. Biol. 207, 2277-2288, 2004. Nelson, F.E., A.M. Gabaldón, T.J. Roberts. Force-velocity properties of two avian hindlimb muscles. J. Comp. Biochem. Physiol. A Mol. Integr. Physiol. 137 (4): 711-721, 2004. Gabaldón, A.M., D.A. Gavel, J.S. Hamilton, R.B. McDonald, and B.A. Horwitz. Norepinephrine release in brown adipose tissue remains robust in cold-exposed senescent Fischer 344 rats. Am. J. Physiol. 285 (Regul. Integr. Comp. Physiol.): R91-R98, 2002. Gabaldón, A.M., R.B. McDonald, and B.A. Horwitz. Effects of age, gender, and senescence on ?-adrenergic responses of isolated F344 rat brown adipocytes in vitro. Am. J. Physiol. (Endocrinol. Metab.37): E726-E736, 1998. Gabaldón, A.M., M.L. Florez-Duquet, J.S. Hamilton, R.B. McDonald, and B.A. Horwitz. Effects of age and gender on brown fat and skeletal muscle metabolic responses to cold in F344 rats. Am. J. Physiol. 268 (Regul., Integr. Comp. Physiol. 37): R931-R941, 1995.