Olfactory sex discrimination persists, whereas the preference for urinary odorants from estrous females disappears in male mice after vomeronasal organ removal
Olfactory sex discrimination persists, whereas the preference for urinary odorants from estrous females disappears in male mice after vomeronasal organ removal
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DOI：
10.1523/jneurosci.2376-04.2004
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发表时间：
2004-10-20
影响因子：
5.3
通讯作者：
Cherry, JA
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Pankevich, DE;Baum, MJ;Cherry, JA
基于观察到的瞬时受体电位2离子通道零突变的雄性小鼠在超声发声、气味标记、攻击和攀爬行为的社会环境变化，最近提出了小鼠vomeronasal器官(VNO)/副嗅觉系统的主要功能是性别歧视。我们使用习惯-非习惯测试，通过研究雄性小鼠区分两性同种和不同内分泌状态下的尿液气味的能力，直接验证了这一假设。手术切除VNO的雄性小鼠（VNOx）与假手术对照组（VNOi）在区分发情雌性与性腺完整雄性、发情雌性与卵巢切除雌性、性腺完整雄性与阉割雄性的尿液气味方面的能力相似。当允许身体接触刺激时，VNOi控制的雄性强烈倾向于研究发情雌性的挥发性和非挥发性尿液气味，而不是完整的雄性，而VNOx雄性则没有这种偏好。VNOi和VNOx受试者在与发情雌性的交配测试中表现相同。两组雄性都更喜欢骑一只发情的雌性而不是被阉割的雄性。我们的研究结果表明，VNO不是性别歧视所必需的，而是检测异性尿液中的非挥发性成分，这些成分可以用来帮助延长与产生这些化学信号的个体的接触。
Based on observed changes in the social context for the display of ultrasonic vocalizations, scent marking, aggression, and mounting behavior by male mice with a null mutation of the transient receptor potential 2 ion channel, it was proposed recently that a primary function of the mouse vomeronasal organ (VNO)/accessory olfactory system is sex discrimination. We tested this hypothesis directly by studying the ability of male mice to discriminate between urinary odors of conspecifics of the two sexes and in different endocrine states using habituation-dishabituation tests. Male mice from which the VNO had been surgically removed (VNOx) resembled sham-operated controls (VNOi) in their ability to discriminate between volatile urinary odors from estrous females versus gonadally intact males, as well as between urinary odors from estrous versus ovariectomized females and from gonadally intact versus castrated males. When physical access to stimuli was permitted, VNOi control males strongly preferred to investigate volatile and nonvolatile urinary odorants from estrous females as opposed to intact males, whereas VNOx males showed no such preference. Mating performance in tests with estrous females was equivalent in VNOi and VNOx subjects. Both groups of males preferred to mount an estrous female instead of a castrated male. Our results suggest that the VNO is not required for sex discrimination but instead detects the nonvolatile components of opposite-sex urine that may be used to help prolong contact with individuals that produce these chemosignals.