Title: | State-dependent responses to sex pheromones in mouse |
Address: | "Department of Molecular and Cellular Neuroscience, The Scripps Research Institute, La Jolla, CA 02037, United States. Electronic address: stowers@scripps.edu. Department of Cell Biology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, United States" |
DOI: | 10.1016/j.conb.2016.04.001 |
ISSN/ISBN: | 1873-6882 (Electronic) 0959-4388 (Print) 0959-4388 (Linking) |
Abstract: | "A single sensory cue can evoke different behaviors that vary by recipient. Responses may be influenced by sex, internal state, experience, genotype, and coincident environmental stimuli. Pheromones are powerful inducers of mouse behavior, yet pheromone responses are not always stereotyped. For example, male and female mice respond differently to sex pheromones while mothers and virgin females respond differently to pup cues. Here, we review the origins of variability in responses to reproductive pheromones. Recent advances have indicated how response variability may arise through modulation at different levels of pheromone-processing circuitry, from sensory neurons in the periphery to central neurons in the vomeronasal amygdala. Understanding mechanisms underlying conditional pheromone responses should reveal how neural circuits can be flexibly sculpted to alter behavior" |
Keywords: | Amygdala/physiology Animals Mice Sensory Receptor Cells/*physiology Sex Attractants/*physiology Sex Factors Vomeronasal Organ/physiology;Neuroscience; |
Notes: | "MedlineStowers, Lisa Liberles, Stephen D eng R01 DC006885/DC/NIDCD NIH HHS/ R01 DC013289/DC/NIDCD NIH HHS/ Review England 2016/04/20 Curr Opin Neurobiol. 2016 Jun; 38:74-9. doi: 10.1016/j.conb.2016.04.001. Epub 2016 Apr 16" |