Elsevier

Physiology & Behavior

Volume 45, Issue 2, February 1989, Pages 443-447
Physiology & Behavior

Article
Vomeronasal organ and social factors affect urine marking by male mice

https://doi.org/10.1016/0031-9384(89)90153-4Get rights and content

Abstract

Adult CF-1 male mice cohabited for 15 days with three different females (EXPERIENCED) or remained physically isolated (INEXPERIENCED) prior to removal of their vomeronasal organs (VNX) or a SHAM procedure. Subjects were tested one month after surgery for urine marking in response to a stimulus male, a stimulus female, or no stimulus animal on the opposite side of a screened partition. VNX males exhibited a significant reduction in urine marking compared to SHAM males. EXPERIENCED VNX males deposited urine in amounts that were intermediate to SHAMs and INEXPERIENCED VNX males. These results suggest that deficits in urine marking behavior that result from loss of vomeronasal chemoreception may be ameliorated by prior sexual and/or social experience with females.

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      Citation Excerpt :

      In many other cases, the behavioral or endocrine responses that have been investigated are ones that are typical of just one sex, indicating the existence of many sex differences in the function of the VNO. For example, the VNO has been implicated in pre-copulatory, ultrasonic calling in male mice [4], urine marking in male mice [37,43], LH and testosterone surges in male mice and male hamsters in response to female odors [53,67], reproductive activation of female prairie voles [38], and maternal behavior of female rats and golden hamsters [14,42]. The present results are the first that we are aware of, however, in which a sex difference in vomeronasal function has been demonstrated for a general-purpose discrimination ability, as opposed to a specific behavioral or endocrine response to odors.

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