Abstract. Our work with both sheep and mouse models has revealed many of the neural substrates and signalling pathways involved in olfactory recognition memory in the main olfactory system. A distributed neural system is required for initial memory formation and its short-term retention-the olfactory bulb, piriform and entorhinal cortices and hippocampus. Following memory consolidation, after 8 h or so, only the olfactory bulb and piriform cortex appear to be important for effective recall. Similarly, whereas the glutamate-NMDA/AMPA receptor-nitric oxide (NO)-cyclic GMP signalling pathway is important for memory formation it is not involved in recall post-consolidation. Here, within the olfactory bulb, up-regulation of class 1 metabotropic glutamate receptors appears to maintain the enhanced sensitivity at the mitral to granule cell synapses required for effective memory recall. Recently we have investigated whether fluctuating sex hormone levels during the oestrous cycle modulate olfactory recognition memory and the different neural substrates and signalling pathways involved. These studies have used two robust models of social olfactory memory in the mouse which either involve social or non social odours (habituation-dishabituation and social transmission of food preference tasks). In both cases significant improvement of learning retention occurs when original learning takes place during the proestrus phase of the ovarian cycle. This is probably the result of oestrogen changes at this time since transgenic mice lacking functional expression of oestrogen receptors (ERα and ERβ, the two main oestrogen receptor sub-types) have shown problems in social recognition. Therefore, oestrogen appears to act at the level of the olfactory bulb by modulating both noradrenaline and the glutamate/NO signalling pathway. Key words: Olfactory bulb, Olfactory memory, Olfactory recognition, Social learning, Nitric oxide (NO), Oestrous cycle, Sheep, Mouse, Social transmission of food preference (J. Reprod. Dev. 51: [547][548][549][550][551][552][553][554][555][556][557][558] 2005) or several decades, olfactory learning has been used as a model for the study of memory. This is not only because mammalian olfactory learning shows a number of features common to the human declarative memory system one-trial learning, rapid encoding, long lasting memories and a high capacity for information storage-but also because olfactory memory models represent a relatively simple form of learning and the olfactory system has well characterised pathways and structural organisation which offers many advantages in defining how processing occurs at a systems level. This makes it feasible to study plasticity at all levels in the system, from the initial sensory detection of odourant molecules at the level of the olfactory receptors righ t thr ough to high er cortical processing.There are many different forms of olfactory learning and memory in diverse behavioural contexts involving different mechanisms within the olfactory system. Olfactory learning ...