Pheromonal regulation of male mouse ultrasonic courtship (Mus musculus)

Nyby, John; Wysocki, Charles J.; Whitney, Glayde; Dizinno, Gerard

doi:10.1016/0003-3472(77)90009-4

Cited by 125 publications

(76 citation statements)

References 14 publications

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“…ΔD mice detected female urine and discriminated it from male urine, but failed to show sexual preference for female urine. Female urine, but not male urine, also provokes male mice to emit USVs (30). The USVs of male mice attract females and contribute to mate choice by females (31,32).…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Genetic dissection of pheromone processing reveals main olfactory system-mediated social behaviors in mice

Matsuo¹,

Hattori

Asaba

et al. 2015

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

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Most mammals have two major olfactory subsystems: the main olfactory system (MOS) and vomeronasal system (VNS). It is now widely accepted that the range of pheromones that control social behaviors are processed by both the VNS and the MOS. However, the functional contributions of each subsystem in social behavior remain unclear. To genetically dissociate the MOS and VNS functions, we established two conditional knockout mouse lines that led to either loss-of-function in the entire MOS or in the dorsal MOS. Mice with whole-MOS loss-of-function displayed severe defects in active sniffing and poor survival through the neonatal period. In contrast, when loss-of-function was confined to the dorsal MOB, sniffing behavior, pheromone recognition, and VNS activity were maintained. However, defects in a wide spectrum of social behaviors were observed: attraction to female urine and the accompanying ultrasonic vocalizations, chemoinvestigatory preference, aggression, maternal behaviors, and risk-assessment behaviors in response to an alarm pheromone. Functional dissociation of pheromone detection and pheromonal induction of behaviors showed the anterior olfactory nucleus (AON)-regulated social behaviors downstream from the MOS. Lesion analysis and neural activation mapping showed pheromonal activation in multiple amygdaloid and hypothalamic nuclei, important regions for the expression of social behavior, was dependent on MOS and AON functions. Identification of the MOS-AON-mediated pheromone pathway may provide insights into pheromone signaling in animals that do not possess a functional VNS, including humans.social behavior | pheromone processing | main olfactory system | vomeronasal system M ost mammals have two major olfactory subsystems-the main olfactory system (MOS) and vomeronasal system (VNS). The MOS comprises the main olfactory epithelium (MOE), in which olfactory sensory neurons detect odorants, and their projection target, the main olfactory bulb (MOB) (Fig. S1A). Although the MOS is thought to detect volatile odorants and the VNS is thought to be important for the detection of nonvolatile pheromones, evidence shows that the MOS is also involved in pheromone detection (1-8). Surgical blocking of odorant access to the MOE, but not surgical ablation of the vomeronasal epithelium (VNE), eliminates preference to odors from the opposite sex in ferrets (9, 10). In mice, chemical ablation of the MOE impairs male and female sexual behaviors (11,12). In these experiments in which the MOE was ablated, the function of the VNS is not directly disrupted, because the VNS is activated by direct application of urine to the nostril. Thus, these results indicate that the MOS also contributes to pheromone processing and related behaviors.Nonconditional disruption of genes encoding signal transduction proteins that are required for activation of olfactory neurons, such as cyclic nucleotide-gated channel (Cnga2) or adenylyl cyclase 3, impairs several social behaviors (11,(13)(14)(15). However, complete loss of MOS function causes a...

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Genetic dissection of pheromone processing reveals main olfactory system-mediated social behaviors in mice

Matsuo¹,

Hattori

Asaba

et al. 2015

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

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“…Numerous studies (Brown, 1977;Carr et al, 1966;Ferkin, 1992;Nyby et al, 1977), usually carried out in rodent species, showed that mammals reliably choose to approach and investigate pheromonal cues from an opposite-sex, as opposed to a same-sex, conspecific. Typically, these sex-specific odor preferences are only expressed during the breeding season, in the presence of circulating testosterone (males) or ovarian steroids (females).…”

Section: Sex Differences In Sexual Partner Preference: Contribution Omentioning

confidence: 99%

Roles of sex and gonadal steroids in mammalian pheromonal communication

Baum

Bakker

2013

Frontiers in Neuroendocrinology

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a b s t r a c t A brain circuit (the accessory olfactory system) that originates in the vomeronasal organ (VNO) and includes the accessory olfactory bulb (AOB) plus additional forebrain regions mediates many of the effects of pheromones, typically comprised of a variety of non-volatile and volatile compounds, on aspects of social behavior. A second, parallel circuit (the main olfactory system) that originates in the main olfactory epithelium (MOE) and includes the main olfactory bulb (MOB) has also been shown to detect volatile pheromones from conspecifics. Studies are reviewed that point to specific roles of several different steroids and their water-soluble metabolites as putative pheromones. Other studies are reviewed that establish an adult, 'activational' role of circulating sex hormones along with sex differences in the detection and/or processing of non-steroidal pheromones by these two olfactory circuits. Persisting questions about the role of sex steroids in pheromonal processing are posed for future investigation.

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“…In more recent experimental work, comparable behaviors have been described which are exhibited in response to conspecific odors and which may function to optimize stimulus transport to the VNO: examples are the "gaping" response in cats [24], flehmen in rabbits [4] and "head-bobbing" in guinea pigs [3]. Nyby et al [34] have studied the elicitation of ultrasonic vocalizations in male mice by female odors. Although effective odors could be obtained from a number of different body locations, a characteristic of each was that males responded to them only after a period of intense investigation at close range.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Olfactory and vomeronasal system participation in male hamsters' attraction to female vaginal secretions

Powers

Fields

Winans

1979

Physiology & Behavior

101

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POWERS, J. B., R. B. FIELDS AND S. S. WINANS. O~wtory and vomeronasal system participation in male hamsters' attraction to ./bmc:/e vaginal secrethms. PHYSIOL. BEHAV. 22(I) 77--84, 1979.~The effects of olfactory (OLF) vomeronasal (VN), or combined deafferentations of male hamsters on their attraction to female hamster vaginal secretions (FHVS) were determined using 2 different attraction tests. In the first, FHVS was placed on one wall of a plastic test chamber, while in the second test, FHVS was rubbed onto 1 of 2 anesthetized castrate hamsters. OLF deafferentation abolished the males" attraction to FHVS in the first test but had no effect in the second. The persistence of FHVS attraction in the anesthetized castrate test depended on the VN system in that its subsequent deafferentation greatly attenuated the attraction. When the VN system was deafferented alone, FHVS attraction was significantly reduced only in males exhibiting severe mating behavior deficits. These results are interpreted to support the hypothesis that the OLF and VN systems may be preferentially responsive to volatile and non-volatile odorants, respectively. Our findings emphasize that both the OLF and VN systems participate in subserving males' attraction to FHVS and their mating with receptive females. Thus each chemosensory system may influence both sexual arousal and copulatory mechanisms. HamsterCopulation Olfactory/vomeronasal system Sexual attraction Vaginal secretions CHEMOSENSORY stimuli are important regulators of sexual behavior among a number of vertebrate classes [13,29]. The effects of these stimuli combine with those derived from other sensory and behavioral cues to initiate and coordinate reproductive interactions between male and female conspecifics. There are very few species in which one sensory modality can be singled out as crucial to reproductive activities; however, in some rodents the chemosensory modality would appear dominant. In male mice and hamsters, bilateral removal of the olfactory bulbs eliminates copulation [321. It has been suggested that these mating behavior deficits and effects on other behaviors observed in a variety of species are due to disruption of non-sensory limbic system circuits rather than to removal of the sense of smell [7,14]. Bulbectomy, as it is usually accomplished, destroys the interconnections between the olfactory bulbs and areas of the basal forebrain and brain stem [9, I 1, 38]. This procedure also destroys afferents from the olfactory mucosa to the main olfactory bulb (MOB), connections of the vomeronasal organ (VNO) with the accessory olfactory bulb (AOB), the nerves of the septal olfactory organ and the nervus terminalis [2,5]. Although the contribution which each of these systems might make to the behavioral effects of bulbectomy in any species has not been ascertained, recent work in this laboratory has indicated that the olfactory and vomeronasal systerns together comprise an essential substrate in the regulation of male hamster copulation [36,42]. Although deafferentation of th...

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Pheromonal regulation of male mouse ultrasonic courtship (Mus musculus)

Cited by 125 publications

References 14 publications

Genetic dissection of pheromone processing reveals main olfactory system-mediated social behaviors in mice

Genetic dissection of pheromone processing reveals main olfactory system-mediated social behaviors in mice

Roles of sex and gonadal steroids in mammalian pheromonal communication

Olfactory and vomeronasal system participation in male hamsters' attraction to female vaginal secretions

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