Fear-like behavioral responses in mice in different odorant environments: Trigeminal versus olfactory mediation under low doses

Galliot, Emmanuel; Laurent, Lucie; Hacquemand, Romain; Pourié, Grégory; Millot, Jean-Louis

doi:10.1016/j.beproc.2012.01.002

Cited by 34 publications

(24 citation statements)

References 49 publications

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“…This result supports previously published observations reporting that TMT detection still occurred in mice where the main VNO-signaling element, the transient receptor potential channels type 2 (TRPC2) (44), or the key MOE canonical component, the cyclic nucleotide-gated channels A2 (CNGA2) (52), have been genetically deleted. Moreover, TMT detection was also reported to be unaffected by a zinc sulfate treatment inducing a transient anosmia (53). , and 100% of the tested GG neurons, respectively (n = 114).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 93%

Mouse alarm pheromone shares structural similarity with predator scents

Brechbühl

Moine

Klaey

et al. 2013

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

162

234

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Sensing the chemical warnings present in the environment is essential for species survival. In mammals, this form of danger communication occurs via the release of natural predator scents that can involuntarily warn the prey or by the production of alarm pheromones by the stressed prey alerting its conspecifics. Although we previously identified the olfactory Grueneberg ganglion as the sensory organ through which mammalian alarm pheromones signal a threatening situation, the chemical nature of these cues remains elusive. We here identify, through chemical analysis in combination with a series of physiological and behavioral tests, the chemical structure of a mouse alarm pheromone. To successfully recognize the volatile cues that signal danger, we based our selection on their activation of the mouse olfactory Grueneberg ganglion and the concomitant display of innate fear reactions. Interestingly, we found that the chemical structure of the identified mouse alarm pheromone has similar features as the sulfur-containing volatiles that are released by predating carnivores. Our findings thus not only reveal a chemical Leitmotiv that underlies signaling of fear, but also point to a double role for the olfactory Grueneberg ganglion in intraspecies as well as interspecies communication of danger.olfaction | animal communication | behavior | calcium imaging

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 93%

Mouse alarm pheromone shares structural similarity with predator scents

Brechbühl

Moine

Klaey

et al. 2013

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

162

234

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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“…First, it is possible that, at the high concentration used, TMT activated the trigeminal nerve (Galliot et al, 2012 ) producing an aversion strong enough to form an avoidance memory. In fact, although trigeminal deafferentiation does not block freezing to TMT (Ayers et al, 2013 ), TMT induces trigeminal activation at concentrations higher than 10% (Hacquemand et al, 2010 ), at least in some experimental conditions.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Avoidance and contextual learning induced by a kairomone, a pheromone and a common odorant in female CD1 mice

et al. 2015

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Chemosignals mediate both intra- and inter-specific communication in most mammals. Pheromones elicit stereotyped reactions in conspecifics, whereas kairomones provoke a reaction in an allospecific animal. For instance, predator kairomones elicit anticipated defensive responses in preys. The aim of this work was to test the behavioral responses of female mice to two chemosignals: 2-heptanone (2-HP), a putative alarm pheromone, and 2,4,5-trimethylthiazoline (TMT), a fox-derived putative kairomone, widely used to investigate fear and anxiety in rodents. The banana-like odorant isoamyl acetate (IA), unlikely to act as a chemosignal, served as a control odorant. We first presented increasing amounts of these odorants in consecutive days, in a test box in which mice could explore or avoid them. Female mice avoided the highest amounts of all three compounds, with TMT and IA eliciting avoidance at lower amounts (3.8 pmol and 0.35 μmol, respectively) than 2-HP (35 μmol). All three compounds induced minimal effects in global locomotion and immobility in this set up. Further, mice detected 3.5 pmol of TMT and IA in a habituation–dishabituation test, so avoidance of IA started well beyond the detection threshold. Finally, both TMT and IA, but not 2-HP, induced conditioned place avoidance and increased immobility in the neutral compartment during a contextual memory test. These data suggest that intense odors can induce contextual learning irrespective of their putative biological significance. Our results support that synthetic predator-related compounds (like TMT) or other intense odorants are useful to investigate the neurobiological basis of emotional behaviors in rodents. Since intense odorants unlikely to act as chemosignals can elicit similar behavioral reactions than chemosignals, we stress the importance of using behavioral measures in combination with other physiological (e.g., hormonal levels) or neural measures (e.g., immediate early gene expression) to establish the ethological significance of odorants.

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“…Five hundred microlitres of the solution (in 50‐μL aliquots) was pipetted on to 10 pieces of blotting paper (5 cm 2 ), which were then placed in a bag containing 20 L of mouse bedding material (wood shavings). Therefore, every 500 mL of these wood shavings, placed in the middle chamber of the apparatus (volume 3600 cm 3 ) was equivalent to 12.5 μL of 10% TMT/cm 3 , which is consistent with the concentration levels of TMT used previously to engender aversion and anxiety (Galliot et al ., ).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 97%

Measuring risk‐taking in mice: balancing the risk between seeking reward and danger

Dent

Isles

Humby

2013

Eur J of Neuroscience

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Assessing risk is an essential part of human behaviour and may be disrupted in a number of psychiatric conditions. Currently, in many animal experimental designs the basis of the potential 'risk' is loss or attenuation of reward, which fail to capture 'real-life' risky situations where there is a trade-off between a separate cost and reward. The development of rodent tasks where two separate and conflicting factors are traded against each other has begun to address this discrepancy. Here, we discuss the merits of these risk-taking tasks and describe the development of a novel test for mice - the 'predator-odour risk-taking' task. This paradigm encapsulates a naturalistic approach to measuring risk-taking behaviour where mice have to balance the benefit of gaining a food reward with the cost of exposure to a predator odour using a range of different odours (rat, cat and fox). We show that the 'predator-odour risk-taking' task was sensitive to the trade-off between cost and benefit by demonstrating reduced motivation to collect food reward in the presence of these different predator odours in two strains of mice and, also, if the value of the food reward was reduced. The 'predator-odour risk-taking' task therefore provides a strong platform for the investigation of the genetic substrates of risk-taking behaviour using mouse models, and adds a further dimension to other recently developed rodent tests.

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Fear-like behavioral responses in mice in different odorant environments: Trigeminal versus olfactory mediation under low doses

Cited by 34 publications

References 49 publications

Mouse alarm pheromone shares structural similarity with predator scents

Mouse alarm pheromone shares structural similarity with predator scents

Avoidance and contextual learning induced by a kairomone, a pheromone and a common odorant in female CD1 mice

Measuring risk‐taking in mice: balancing the risk between seeking reward and danger

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