LAUSR.org creates dashboard-style pages of related content for over 1.5 million academic articles. Sign Up to like articles & get recommendations!

Sex separation induces differences in the olfactory sensory receptor repertoires of male and female mice

Photo from wikipedia

Within the mammalian olfactory sensory epithelium, experience-dependent changes in the rate of neuronal turnover can alter the relative abundance of neurons expressing specific chemoreceptors. Here we investigate how the mouse… Click to show full abstract

Within the mammalian olfactory sensory epithelium, experience-dependent changes in the rate of neuronal turnover can alter the relative abundance of neurons expressing specific chemoreceptors. Here we investigate how the mouse olfactory sensory receptor repertoire changes as a function of exposure to odors emitted from members of the opposite sex, which are highly complex and sexually dimorphic. Upon housing mice either sex-separated or sex-combined until six months of age, we find that sex-separated mice exhibit significantly more numerous differentially expressed genes within their olfactory epithelia. A subset of these chemoreceptors exhibit altered expression frequencies following both sex-separation and olfactory deprivation. We show that several of these receptors detect either male- or female-specific odors. We conclude that the distinct odor experiences of sex-separated male and female mice induce sex-specific differences in the abundance of neurons that detect sexually dimorphic odors.Olfactory experience can alter the relative abundance of neurons expressing specific chemoreceptors. Here, the authors demonstrate that the distinct odor experiences of sex-separated male and female mice induce sex-specific differences in the abundance of neurons that detect sexually dimorphic odors.

Keywords: male female; abundance neurons; sex; female mice; olfactory sensory

Journal Title: Nature Communications
Year Published: 2018

Link to full text (if available)


Share on Social Media:                               Sign Up to like & get
recommendations!

Related content

More Information              News              Social Media              Video              Recommended



                Click one of the above tabs to view related content.