The main and accessory olfactory systems of female mice are activated differentially by dominant versus subordinate male urinary odors

Abstract

Previous studies have shown that female preferences for male pheromones depend on the female’s reproductive condition and the dominance status of the male. However, it is unknown which olfactory system detects the odors that result in a preference for a dominant male. Therefore, in the present study, we asked whether dominant versus subordinate male urinary odors differentially activate the main and accessory olfactory systems in female (C57Bl/6j) mice by monitoring the induction of the immediate early gene, c-fos. A more robust induction of Fos was observed in female mice which had direct nasal contact with dominant male urinary odors in four specific segments of the accessory olfactory system, i.e., the posteroventral part of the medial amygdala, the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis, the medial part of the preoptic nucleus and the ventrolateral part of the ventromedial hypothalamus, compared to females that were exposed to subordinate male urine. This greater activation of the accessory olfactory pathway by dominant male urine suggests that there are differences in the nonvolatile components of dominant versus subordinate male urine that are detected by the vomeronasal organ. By contrast, subordinate male urinary odors induced a greater activation in the piriform cortex which is part of the main olfactory system, suggesting that female mice discriminate between dominant and subordinate male urine using their main olfactory system as well.

Making the Case for ‘Power Abuse Disorder' as a Nosologic Entity

“…Concurrent CPP paradigms (see, e.g., [99,103]) could allow a direct comparison with the monkey food-cocaine choice data described above. As already stated in the introduction, animal models that operationalize a power struggle [1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10] with opposite consequences for the participants (i.e., winning/losing a fight) constitute a sound and well-validated animal experimental basis to study PAD. As stated above, research has focused exclusively on the subordinate/loser of such a fight.…”

“…An animal experimental operationalization of social dominance with very high face validity for our (i.e., human primate) minds is winning a fight [1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10]. Maybe of even higher impact for the evolutionary selection process, dominance can be seen and has been operationalized as competitive control over access to vital resources such as water [11], food [12], space for advancement in its literal sense [11], or access to avoidance of unpleasant/harmful stimuli [12], which are all helpful for the survival of the individual, and for its control over reproduction within a group [7,13,14], which in turn is beneficial for the spread of such an individual's genes.…”

Airborne molecules released from male mouse urine affect female exploratory behavior

“…These stimuli differentially activate the main and accessory olfactory systems, inducing selective responses to urine from different donors (Veyrac et al, 2011). The initial differential processing of chemicals by the main and accessory olfactory systems is partly compensated by the high degree of interaction between their downstream projection areas (Kang et al, 2009;Mucignat-Caretta et al, 2012), so that chemosignals may lead to complex effects.…”

TAG-1 deficiency results in olfactory dysfunction due to impaired migration of mitral cells

“…Then, experimental animals were deeply anesthetized, perfused with 4% PFA and brains were dissected. For the AOS we followed the protocol from Pierman et al (2008) and Veyrac et al (2011) with minor modifications. After the habituation period, 30 μl of female urine (from a pool of female urine) was applied inside the nose of the subjects (or H 2 O in controls) and mice were then placed back in the filter cage for 90 min.…”