Cell
Volume 161, Issue 6, 4 June 2015, Pages 1334-1344
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Article
Cyclic Regulation of Sensory Perception by a Female Hormone Alters Behavior

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cell.2015.04.052Get rights and content
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Highlights

  • Females display different behaviors to MUP pheromones depending on their estrous state

  • Diestrous female MUP-detecting sensory neurons are directly silenced by progesterone

  • Primary signal transduction heterogeneity allows selective sensory neuron silencing

  • Sensory silencing abrogates the brain’s need to process irrelevant information

Summary

Females may display dramatically different behavior depending on their state of ovulation. This is thought to occur through sex-specific hormones acting on behavioral centers in the brain. Whether incoming sensory activity also differs across the ovulation cycle to alter behavior has not been investigated. Here, we show that female mouse vomeronasal sensory neurons (VSNs) are temporarily and specifically rendered “blind” to a subset of male-emitted pheromone ligands during diestrus yet fully detect and respond to the same ligands during estrus. VSN silencing occurs through the action of the female sex-steroid progesterone. Not all VSNs are targeted for silencing; those detecting cat ligands remain continuously active irrespective of the estrous state. We identify the signaling components that account for the capacity of progesterone to target specific subsets of male-pheromone responsive neurons for inactivation. These findings indicate that internal physiology can selectively and directly modulate sensory input to produce state-specific behavior.

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