Attractive properties of sexual pheromones in mice

Moncho-Bogani, José; Lanuza, Enrique; Hernández, Adoración Guamán; Novejarque, Amparo; Martı́nez-Garcı́a, Fernando

doi:10.1016/s0031-9384(02)00842-9

Cited by 103 publications

(91 citation statements)

References 53 publications

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“…This is in contrast to the implication from experiments with laboratory mice. Laboratory mouse studies suggest that young female mice learn to recognize male airborne volatiles through association with inherently attractive male scents detected through the vomeronasal system when they first contact scents from adult males during development, thereafter being attracted to airborne male scents as a general response (Moncho-Bogani et al 2002Maras & Petrulis 2008). Instead, females throughout their life learn to recognize the airborne odour signatures of specific individual males during contact investigation of their urine.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Previous reports of a learnt generalized female attraction to airborne volatiles from males used scents pooled from several different laboratory male donors and are likely to be an artefact of unnatural similarity between individual laboratory mice. Although the CD-1 mouse strain used by Moncho-Bogani et al (2002) is generally referred to as 'outbred', all of the classical strains of laboratory mice have been derived from such an extremely small gene pool (probably from a single female based on mitochondrial DNA; Ferris et al 1982) that even outbred strain individuals are likely to have very little genetic diversity compared with normal wild animals. Correspondingly, we have found that mice within and between strains that derive from a shared genetic lineage, including those within the CD-1 strain, all share the same involatile MUP identity signature (S. A. Cheetham, R. J. Beynon, A. L. Smith & J. L. Hurst 2006, unpublished data).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…(b) Experiment 2: naive female response to airborne urinary volatiles Naive female laboratory mice do not show an innate attraction to airborne urinary volatiles from males but learn this attraction during direct contact with involatile components in male scent, resulting in subsequent attraction to airborne volatiles alone (Moncho-Bogani et al 2002). If this process of associative learning results in a simple recognition of male airborne volatiles (Maras & Petrulis 2008;Martinez-Garcia et al 2008), contact with male urine will lead to general recognition of and attraction to airborne volatiles from other intact males.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Encoding choosiness: female attraction requires prior physical contact with individual male scents in mice

2008

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Scents, detected through both the main and vomeronasal olfactory systems, play a crucial role in regulating reproductive behaviour in many mammals. In laboratory mice, female preference for airborne urinary scents from males (detected through the main olfactory system) is learnt through association with scents detected through the vomeronasal system during contact with the scent source. This may reflect a more complex assessment of individual males than that implied by laboratory mouse studies in which individual variation has largely been eliminated. To test this, we assessed female preference between male and female urine using wild house mice with natural individual genetic variation in urinary identity signals. We confirm that females exhibit a general preference for male over female urine when able to contact urine scents. However, they are only attracted to airborne urinary volatiles from individual males whose urine they have previously contacted. Even females with a natural exposure to many individuals of both sexes fail to develop generalized attraction to airborne male scents. This implies that information gained through contact with a specific male's scent is essential to stimulate attraction, providing a new perspective on the cues and olfactory pathways involved in sex recognition and mate assessment in rodents.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Encoding choosiness: female attraction requires prior physical contact with individual male scents in mice

2008

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“…Naïve female mice show an innate attraction to male scents that they can contact, but are only attracted to volatile male odours alone once they have experienced repeated contact with male scents. (66) Similarly, male mice that have encountered females artificially odorized with perfume subsequently emit ultrasonic courtship vocalizations to the perfume itself, apparently associating the perfume with recognition of a female mouse. (67) Indeed, the detrimental effects of removal or deafferentation of the VNO in laboratory experiments can sometimes be partially overcome by prior social experience, (57) when animals have the opportunity to learn an association with odours detected through the main olfactory system.…”

Section: Molecular Mechanism Underlying Mup Ownership Signalsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Scent wars: the chemobiology of competitive signalling in mice

2004

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Many mammals use scent marks to advertise territory ownership, but only recently have we started to understand the complexity of these scent signals and the types of information that they convey. Whilst attention has generally focused on volatile odorants as the main information molecules in scents, studies of the house mouse have now defined a role for a family of proteins termed major urinary proteins (MUPs) which are, of course, involatile. MUPs bind male signalling volatiles and control their release from scent marks. These proteins are also highly polymorphic and the pattern of polymorphic variants provides a stable ownership signal that communicates genome-derived information on the individual identity of the scent owner. Here we review the interaction between the chemical basis of mouse scents and the dynamics of their competitive scent marking behaviour, demonstrating how it is possible to provide reliable signals of the competitive ability and identity of individual males.

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“…These differences were not observed in the two groups of naive females, excepting that the naive adult ewes investigated more the male than the female fleece. These results suggest that the male odor does not possess innate attractive properties, on the contrary to some species (hamster [85], mouse [86,87]). Only the sexually experienced ewes urinated more in the presence of the ram fleece than the female fleece.…”

Section: Response To Male Odormentioning

confidence: 77%

Role of the olfactory systems and importance of learning in the ewes' response to rams or their odors

Gelez

Fabre-Nys

2006

Reprod. Nutr. Dev.

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-In sheep, exposure of seasonally anestrous females to the male or its fleece results in activation of luteinizing hormone (LH) secretion and synchronized ovulation. The study of the neural pathways involved in this phenomenon, commonly named "male effect", show that the main olfactory system plays a critical role in the detection and the integration of the male odor. The accessory olfactory system participates in the perception of the ram odor but does not seem necessary for the endocrine response. According to the hypothesis that the neuroanatomical differences between the two olfactory systems could be associated with different functional roles, we investigated the importance of sexual experience and learning processes in the male effect. Our results showed that female responses depend on previous sexual experience. We also demonstrated that the LH response to male odor could result from an associative learning process. The aim of the present report was to summarize our current knowledge concerning the "male effect" and in particular to clarify the role of sexual experience and learning in the processes involved in this effect.ovine / male effect / LH / olfaction / experience

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Attractive properties of sexual pheromones in mice

Cited by 103 publications

References 53 publications

Encoding choosiness: female attraction requires prior physical contact with individual male scents in mice

Encoding choosiness: female attraction requires prior physical contact with individual male scents in mice

Scent wars: the chemobiology of competitive signalling in mice

Role of the olfactory systems and importance of learning in the ewes' response to rams or their odors

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