| Title: | A single vomeronasal receptor promotes intermale aggression through dedicated hypothalamic neurons |
| Author(s): | Itakura T; Murata K; Miyamichi K; Ishii KK; Yoshihara Y; Touhara K; |
| Address: | "Department of Applied Biological Chemistry, Graduate School of Agricultural and Life Sciences, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo 113-8657, Japan. Laboratory for Systems Molecular Ethology, RIKEN Center for Brain Science, Wako, Saitama 351-0198, Japan. Department of Applied Biological Chemistry, Graduate School of Agricultural and Life Sciences, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo 113-8657, Japan; International Research Center for Neurointelligence (WPI-IRCN), The University of Tokyo Institutes for Advanced Study, Tokyo 113-0033, Japan. Electronic address: ktouhara@g.ecc.u-tokyo.ac.jp" |
| DOI: | 10.1016/j.neuron.2022.05.002 |
| ISSN/ISBN: | 1097-4199 (Electronic) 0896-6273 (Linking) |
| Abstract: | "The pheromonal information received by the vomeronasal system plays a crucial role in regulating social behaviors such as aggression in mice. Despite accumulating knowledge of the brain regions involved in aggression, the specific vomeronasal receptors and the exact neural circuits responsible for pheromone-mediated aggression remain unknown. Here, we identified one murine vomeronasal receptor, Vmn2r53, that is activated by urine from males of various strains and is responsible for evoking intermale aggression. We prepared a purified pheromonal fraction and Vmn2r53 knockout mice and applied genetic tools for neuronal activity recording, manipulation, and circuit tracing to decipher the neural mechanisms underlying Vmn2r53-mediated aggression. We found that Vmn2r53-mediated aggression is regulated by specific neuronal populations in the ventral premammillary nucleus and the ventromedial hypothalamic nucleus. Together, our results shed light on the hypothalamic regulation of male aggression mediated by a single vomeronasal receptor" |
| Keywords: | *Aggression/physiology Animals Hypothalamus Male Mice Neurons/physiology Pheromones/physiology Ventromedial Hypothalamic Nucleus *Vomeronasal Organ/physiology aggression internal state pheromone sex social behavior vomeronasal system; |
| Notes: | "MedlineItakura, Takumi Murata, Ken Miyamichi, Kazunari Ishii, Kentaro K Yoshihara, Yoshihiro Touhara, Kazushige eng Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't 2022/06/03 Neuron. 2022 Aug 3; 110(15):2455-2469.e8. doi: 10.1016/j.neuron.2022.05.002. Epub 2022 Jun 1" |
