Sexual Differentiation of Mouse Vomeronasal Function

描述(申请人提供)：犁鼻器(VNO)投影 途径介导信息素对基本心理性行为的许多影响 以及各种脊椎动物的神经内分泌功能。我们已经展示了 雄性和雌性小鼠VNO中不同数量的神经元 对来自雄性和雌性同种生物的信息素做出反应 雌二醇和睾丸素会放大这些效应。建议进行实验，以 通过确定性别差异是否存在于 任意三种不同V2R在VNO基底区的表达 以前在小鼠中克隆的受体，以及是否有这样的mRNA差异 这些受体的水平受雌二醇或睾酮的调节。我们会 观察雄性信息素对二尖瓣细胞Fos-IR的增强作用 从吻侧投射到杏仁内侧核，而不是从吻侧 去性腺、雌激素治疗的雄性和雌性小鼠尾部AOB不同， 将通过荧光素对时间活动的细胞室分析 即刻早期基因(IEG)c-fos的原位杂交 确定AOB吻区和尾区的二尖瓣细胞 由雄性和发情雌性的信息素差异激活 老鼠。最后，我们将确定对男性的抑制是否 信息素诱导的IEG激活以前在两天雌性VNO中可见 交配后也会发生在雄性小鼠身上，并对两者的信息素做出反应 性别，我们将评估去甲肾上腺素能传入在 颈上神经节对交配诱导的后遗神经“沉默”的影响 气味可引起VNO的IEG激活。在这些研究中获得的结果 应该会提高我们对神经生物学机制的理解 性别、类固醇激素和既往性行为的影响 副嗅觉对嗅觉信号处理的体会 系统。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The vomeronasal organ (VNO) projection pathway mediates many of the effects of pheromones on essential psychosexual and neuroendocrine functions in a variety of vertebrate species. We have shown that different populations of neurons in the VNO of male and female mice respond to pheromones derived from male and female conspecifics and that estradiol and testosterone amplify these effects. Experiments are proposed to extend these findings by determining whether sex differences exist in the expression within the basal zone of the VNO of any three different V2R receptors previously cloned in mice, and whether any such differences in mRNA levels for these receptors are modulated by estradiol or testosterone. We will see whether the ability of male pheromones to augment Fos-IR in mitral cells that project to medial amygdaloid nuclei from the rostral as opposed to the caudal AOB differs in gonadectomized, estrogen-treated male and female mice and will use cellular compartment analysis of temporal activity by fluorescent in situ hybridization (catFISH) for the immediate-early-gene (IEG), c-fos, to determine whether mitral cells in the rostral versus caudal zones of the AOB are differentially activated by pheromones from male versus estrous female mice. Finally, we will determine whether the inhibition of male pheromone-induced IEG activation previously seen in the VNO of females two days after mating also occurs in male mice and in response to pheromones from both sexes, and we will assess the possible role of noradrenergic afferents from the superior cervical ganglia on the mating-induced 'silencing' of subsequent odor-induced IEG activation in the VNO. The results obtained in these studies should improve our understanding of the neurobiological mechanisms that underlie the effects of gender, steroid hormones, and previous coital experience on the processing of olfactory signals by the accessory olfactory system.