Attraction thresholds and sex discrimination of urinary odorants in male and female aromatase knockout (ArKO) mice

Pierman, Sylvie; Douhard, Quentin; Balthazart, Jacques; Baum, Michael J.; Bakker, Julie

doi:10.1016/j.yhbeh.2005.05.007

Cited by 41 publications

(59 citation statements)

References 25 publications

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“…These results have been consistently obtained using various behavioral paradigms including habituation/dishabituation tests [6,86], Y-maze preference tests [44,45,83] or studies using olfactory go-no-go conditioning procedures [101,112]. In this context, recent olfactometer experiments performed by our group have confirmed and further explored sexual discrimination abilities of female mice on the sole basis of volatile odors.…”

Section: Olfactory Control Of Mate Recognitionsupporting

confidence: 68%

“…These sex differences in olfactory sensitivity are not only restricted to the detection of opposite-sex odors, but also involve samesex odors. For instance, using habituation/dishabituation tests to determine odor attraction thresholds, female mice respond more reliably than male mice to low concentrations of volatile urinary odors from either sex [6,86]. By contrast, other studies have shown that males were more proficient than females at discriminating between several types of urinary odors using an olfactometric device [112].…”

Section: Sexual Differentiation Of Both Olfactory Systemsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The main and the accessory olfactory systems interact in the control of mate recognition and sexual behavior

Keller

Baum

Brock

et al. 2009

Behavioural Brain Research

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Section: Olfactory Control Of Mate Recognitionsupporting

confidence: 68%

Section: Sexual Differentiation Of Both Olfactory Systemsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The main and the accessory olfactory systems interact in the control of mate recognition and sexual behavior

Keller

Baum

Brock

et al. 2009

Behavioural Brain Research

Self Cite

150

101

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…These sex differences in olfactory sensitivity are not only restricted to the detection of opposite sex odors, but also involve same-sex odors. For instance, using habituation/dishabituation tests to determine odor attraction thresholds, female mice respond more reliably than male mice to low concentrations of volatile urinary odors from either sex (Baum and Keverne, 2002;Pierman et al, 2006).The existence of sex differences in olfactory sensitivity suggests that gonadal hormones may affect olfactory capabilities. The greater olfactory sensitivity observed in females may reflect differences in circulating sex steroids at the time of testing (activational effects) or a hard-wired sex dimorphism in the functioning of the olfactory system that resulted from the perinatal actions of gonadal hormones (organizational effects).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The greater olfactory sensitivity observed in females may reflect differences in circulating sex steroids at the time of testing (activational effects) or a hard-wired sex dimorphism in the functioning of the olfactory system that resulted from the perinatal actions of gonadal hormones (organizational effects). The studies by Baum and Keverne (2002) and Pierman et al (2006) were both conducted in long-term gonadectomized mice without any adult hormone treatment, suggesting that the observed sex differences in urine attraction thresholds reflect organizational and not activational effects of hormones on the …”

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confidence: 99%

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Enhanced urinary odor discrimination in female aromatase knockout (ArKO) mice

Wesson

Keller

Douhard

et al. 2006

Hormones and Behavior

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We asked whether odor discrimination abilities are sexually dimorphic in mice and, if so, whether the perinatal actions of estradiol contribute to these sex differences. The ability to discriminate different types of urinary odors was compared in male and female wild-type (WT) subjects and in mice with a homozygous-null mutation of the estrogen synthetic enzyme, aromatase (aromatase knockout; ArKO). Olfactory discrimination was assessed in WT and ArKO male and female mice after they were gonadectomized in adulthood and subsequently treated with estradiol benzoate. A liquid olfactometer was used to assess food-motivated olfactory discrimination capacity. All animals eventually learned to distinguish between urinary odors collected from gonadally intact males and estrous females; however, WT males as well as ArKO mice of both sexes learned this discrimination significantly more rapidly than WT females. Similar group differences were obtained when mice discriminated between urinary odors collected from gonadally intact vs. castrated males or between two non-social odorants, amyl and butyl acetate. When subjects had to discriminate volatile urinary odors from ovariectomized female mice treated with estradiol sequenced with progesterone versus estradiol alone, ArKO females quickly acquired the task whereas WT males and females as well as ArKO males failed to do so. These results demonstrated a strong sex dimorphism in olfactory discrimination ability, with WT males performing better than females. Furthermore, female ArKO mice showed an enhanced ability to discriminate very similar urinary odorants, perhaps due to an increased sensitivity of the main olfactory nervous system to adult estradiol treatment as a result of perinatal estrogen deprivation. © 2005 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.Keywords: Estrogens; Sex differences; Olfaction; Odor discrimination; Learning Sex differences have been reported in olfactory sensitivity, with females being better able than males to detect male-derived odors. For instance, sows are significantly better than boars at using decreasing concentrations of the volatile male pig pheromone, androstenone, as a discriminative stimulus in operant tests for a sucrose reward (Dorries et al., 1995). In addition, using measurements of regional cerebral blood flow with positron emission tomography (Savic et al., 2001), women but not men show a significant activation of the preoptic area and ventromedial nuclei of the hypothalamus when actively smelling androstadienone, an androgenic compound secreted by the axillary glands in much higher concentrations in men than in women (Gower and Ruparelia, 1993). These sex differences in olfactory sensitivity are not only restricted to the detection of opposite sex odors, but also involve same-sex odors. For instance, using habituation/dishabituation tests to determine odor attraction thresholds, female mice respond more reliably than male mice to low concentrations of volatile urinary odors from either sex (Baum and Keverne, 2002;Pierman et al., 20...

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Assessment of Urinary Pheromone Discrimination, Partner Preference, and Mating Behaviors in Female Mice

Brock

Bakker

Baum

2013

Methods in Molecular Biology

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Attraction thresholds and sex discrimination of urinary odorants in male and female aromatase knockout (ArKO) mice

Cited by 41 publications

References 25 publications

The main and the accessory olfactory systems interact in the control of mate recognition and sexual behavior

The main and the accessory olfactory systems interact in the control of mate recognition and sexual behavior

Enhanced urinary odor discrimination in female aromatase knockout (ArKO) mice

Assessment of Urinary Pheromone Discrimination, Partner Preference, and Mating Behaviors in Female Mice

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