Efferent control of stimulus access to the hamster vomeronasal organ.

Meredith, Michael; O’Connell, Robert J.

doi:10.1113/jphysiol.1979.sp012620

Cited by 248 publications

(137 citation statements)

References 21 publications

(33 reference statements)

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“…Comparison of the temporal response profiles observed here with direct recordings of VNO pump activity in anesthetized (22) and awake animals (15) suggests that each sympathetic stimulation in our preparation triggers a single suction event. Thus, the basic vomeronasal response is significantly slower than the unitary sensory events in the main olfactory system, which occurs at a typical frequency of 4-12 Hz (23).…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 97%

In vivo vomeronasal stimulation reveals sensory encoding of conspecific and allospecific cues by the mouse accessory olfactory bulb

Ben‐Shaul

Katz

Mooney

et al. 2010

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

153

149

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The rodent vomeronasal system plays a critical role in mediating pheromone-evoked social and sexual behaviors. Recent studies of the anatomical and molecular architecture of the vomeronasal organ (VNO) and of its synaptic target, the accessory olfactory bulb (AOB), have suggested that unique features underlie vomeronasal sensory processing. However, the neuronal representation of pheromonal information leading to specific behavioral and endocrine responses has remained largely unexplored due to the experimental difficulty of precise stimulus delivery to the VNO. To determine the basic rules of information processing in the vomeronasal system, we developed a unique preparation that allows controlled and repeated stimulus delivery to the VNO and combined this approach with multisite recordings of neuronal activity in the AOB. We found that urine, a well-characterized pheromone source in mammals, as well as saliva, activates AOB neurons in a manner that reliably encodes the donor animal's sexual and genetic status. We also identified a significant fraction of AOB neurons that respond robustly and selectively to predator cues, suggesting an expanded role for the vomeronasal system in both conspecific and interspecific recognition. Further analysis reveals that mixed stimuli from distinct sources evoke synergistic responses in AOB neurons, thereby supporting the notion of integrative processing of chemosensory information.pheromones | sensory processing | vomeronasal | accessory olfactory bulb | mouse I n most animal species, the detection of pheromonal cues is essential to trigger and modulate sexual and social interactions between conspecifics. Genetic and surgical manipulations in the mouse have demonstrated the essential role of the vomeronasal system in this process (1-4). Moreover, tracing studies revealed dense projections from the vomeronasal system to hypothalamic nuclei involved in behavioral and endocrine control (5). The vomeronasal system thus offers a unique opportunity to explore principles of information processing underlying animal-animal communication and species-specific social and sexual interactions.Although the rodent vomeronasal system is clearly involved in pheromone sensing, the range of stimuli it can detect is largely unknown (5). At one extreme, it may be exclusively dedicated to processing pheromonal (i.e., conspecific) information. Consistent with this view, several classes of conspecific cues were shown to directly activate isolated vomeronasal organ (VNO) preparations (see ref. 6 for a recent review). Moreover, genetic as well as surgical VNO silencing significantly impairs behavioral responses to conspecific cues (1, 2). Alternatively, the vomeronasal system may resemble the main olfactory system in which a wide variety of stimuli, including both pheromonal and nonpheromonal signals, are processed. This idea is supported by the finding that in vitro VNO preparations can be activated by large sets of diverse chemicals (7,8).The type and specificity of information extracted by the acces...

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 97%

In vivo vomeronasal stimulation reveals sensory encoding of conspecific and allospecific cues by the mouse accessory olfactory bulb

Ben‐Shaul

Katz

Mooney

et al. 2010

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

153

149

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“…The sensory neurons of the accessory olfactory system are found in the vomeronasal organ (VNO), a blind-ended tube located at the basis of the nasal septum which opens via a small duct into the nasal cavity or into the mouth depending on the species. The VNO detects pheromones which gain access to the VNO by a vascular pumping mechanism [78]. Indeed, many mammalian species engage in intense physical investigation of scent sources, thus exposing VNO sensory neurons to chemosignals which are pumped into the lumen of the VNO when the animal is attending to the stimulus [66,76].…”

Section: The Accessory Olfactory Systemmentioning

confidence: 99%

The main and the accessory olfactory systems interact in the control of mate recognition and sexual behavior

Keller

Baum

Brock

et al. 2009

Behavioural Brain Research

147

101

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“…This is not the case in hamsters, however, in which the VNO communicates directly only with the nasal cavities and in which the nasopalatine canal enters the nasal cavity posterior to the closed caudal end of the organ [ l]. Recently, Meredith [28] has provided compelling evidence that the pumping mechanism noted above can be activated by autonomic stimulation in hamsters and can facilitate entry of odorants dissolved in liquid secretion into the VNO. Whether the same odorant molecules stimulate the olfactory and the VNO receptor cells in hamsters is not known.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Olfactory and vomeronasal system participation in male hamsters' attraction to female vaginal secretions

Powers

Fields

Winans

1979

Physiology & Behavior

100

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POWERS, J. B., R. B. FIELDS AND S. S. WINANS. O~wtory and vomeronasal system participation in male hamsters' attraction to ./bmc:/e vaginal secrethms. PHYSIOL. BEHAV. 22(I) 77--84, 1979.~The effects of olfactory (OLF) vomeronasal (VN), or combined deafferentations of male hamsters on their attraction to female hamster vaginal secretions (FHVS) were determined using 2 different attraction tests. In the first, FHVS was placed on one wall of a plastic test chamber, while in the second test, FHVS was rubbed onto 1 of 2 anesthetized castrate hamsters. OLF deafferentation abolished the males" attraction to FHVS in the first test but had no effect in the second. The persistence of FHVS attraction in the anesthetized castrate test depended on the VN system in that its subsequent deafferentation greatly attenuated the attraction. When the VN system was deafferented alone, FHVS attraction was significantly reduced only in males exhibiting severe mating behavior deficits. These results are interpreted to support the hypothesis that the OLF and VN systems may be preferentially responsive to volatile and non-volatile odorants, respectively. Our findings emphasize that both the OLF and VN systems participate in subserving males' attraction to FHVS and their mating with receptive females. Thus each chemosensory system may influence both sexual arousal and copulatory mechanisms. HamsterCopulation Olfactory/vomeronasal system Sexual attraction Vaginal secretions CHEMOSENSORY stimuli are important regulators of sexual behavior among a number of vertebrate classes [13,29]. The effects of these stimuli combine with those derived from other sensory and behavioral cues to initiate and coordinate reproductive interactions between male and female conspecifics. There are very few species in which one sensory modality can be singled out as crucial to reproductive activities; however, in some rodents the chemosensory modality would appear dominant. In male mice and hamsters, bilateral removal of the olfactory bulbs eliminates copulation [321. It has been suggested that these mating behavior deficits and effects on other behaviors observed in a variety of species are due to disruption of non-sensory limbic system circuits rather than to removal of the sense of smell [7,14]. Bulbectomy, as it is usually accomplished, destroys the interconnections between the olfactory bulbs and areas of the basal forebrain and brain stem [9, I 1, 38]. This procedure also destroys afferents from the olfactory mucosa to the main olfactory bulb (MOB), connections of the vomeronasal organ (VNO) with the accessory olfactory bulb (AOB), the nerves of the septal olfactory organ and the nervus terminalis [2,5]. Although the contribution which each of these systems might make to the behavioral effects of bulbectomy in any species has not been ascertained, recent work in this laboratory has indicated that the olfactory and vomeronasal systerns together comprise an essential substrate in the regulation of male hamster copulation [36,42]. Although deafferentation of th...

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Efferent control of stimulus access to the hamster vomeronasal organ.

Cited by 248 publications

References 21 publications

In vivo vomeronasal stimulation reveals sensory encoding of conspecific and allospecific cues by the mouse accessory olfactory bulb

In vivo vomeronasal stimulation reveals sensory encoding of conspecific and allospecific cues by the mouse accessory olfactory bulb

The main and the accessory olfactory systems interact in the control of mate recognition and sexual behavior

Olfactory and vomeronasal system participation in male hamsters' attraction to female vaginal secretions

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