Preputial glands of infant rats (Rattus norvegicus) provide chemosignals for maternal discrimination of sex.

Moore, Celia; Samonte, Bernadette R.

doi:10.1037/0735-7036.100.1.76

Cited by 28 publications

(14 citation statements)

References 26 publications

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“…In the present experiments, the absence of amniotic fluid could seem to have disrupted the regulation of AGL, but our 1990 results rule this out (Brouette-Lahlou & Vemet-Maury, in press). Moore and Samonte (1986) verified that the "neonatal preputial gland is a source of chemosignals that are attractive to dams and that are used by dams to identify [the] sex of [the] pup" in accordance with our first results (Vemet-Maury, Brouette-Lahlou, & Chanei, 1987); compounds isolated chromatographically from preputial gland secretion may explain why male pups are licked longer than females.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 74%

Is rat-dam licking behavior regulated by pups’ preputial gland secretion?

Brouette-Lahlou

Vernet-Maury

Chanel

1991

Animal Learning & Behavior

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Anogenitallieking (AGL) is crucial for pups' survival; nonlieked pups cannot defecate, and they die. A cotton swab impregnated with anogenitalsmears was investigated and the odorous testbox containing it was sniffed by virgins and adult males as weH as by dams. When the pups' heads were rubbed with anogenital smears and the perineal area cleaned, the dams lieked only the heads. The same results were obtained with a lipidic extraet from pups' preputial glands. Chromatographie analysis of that extract showed the same peaks as those obtained from anogenital smears and thus eonfirmed preputial glands as the source ofthe attractant. Without pups' preputial glands, AGL did not disappear, but it was disrupted. Some pups were never lieked, and died; median lieking time increased from 14.5 (control) to 20 sec. Preputial secretions were designated as a regulating factor of AGL. What may induce AGL in the absence of pups' preputial gland seeretion is diseussed.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 74%

Is rat-dam licking behavior regulated by pups’ preputial gland secretion?

Brouette-Lahlou

Vernet-Maury

Chanel

1991

Animal Learning & Behavior

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“…In agreement with previous reports (in a number of mammalian species; Terranova and Laviola 1995) overall higher levels of Active nursing were directed towards all-male litters compared to other groups (Moore and Morelli 1979, for rats; Alleva et al 1989, for mice). Indeed, male pups represent a stronger stimulus (probably maximized in an all-male litter) and they are also much more demanding when compared to female pups (Richmond and Sachs 1984;Moore and Samonte 1986;Terranova and Laviola 1995). The elevated maternal investment of a dam rearing an all-male litter was not accompanied by changes in a physiological parameter such as body weight.…”

Section: Maternal Care and Pups' Body Weightmentioning

confidence: 95%

“…In altricial mammals, development is largely dependent on mother-offspring interactions : pups' cues are detected by the mother and alter her behaviour, which in turn can produce specific changes in the physiology and the behaviour of the offspring (Bell et al 1974;Hofer 1975;Moore and Samonte 1986;Birke and Sadler 1987;Smotherman and Robinson 1994). Changes in maternal behaviour elicited by pups' cues have been shown to attenuate d-amphetamine toxicity in the adult offspring (Schreiber et al 1977).…”

Section: Behaviour Of Mouse Pupsmentioning

confidence: 98%

Sexual segregation in infant mice: behavioural and neuroendocrine responses to d -amphetamine administration

Cirulli¹,

Adriani²,

Laviola³

1997

Psychopharmacology

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Individual differences arise from both genetic and epigenetic factors. The aim of this study was to test whether pups raised in distinct socio-sexual conditions would show different behavioural and neuroendocrine responses to d-amphetamine (AMPH) administration upon placement in a novel environment. This issue was addressed by testing infant CD-1 mouse pups of both sexes at three different developmental ages [3, 8, or 18 postnatal (PND) days]. These pups were raised from birth in all-male, all-female, or mixed-sex litters. AMPH effects were assessed as a function of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis activational state using litters that were either maternally deprived for 24 h (DEP) or normally kept with the dam (NDEP). A concomitant maternal behaviour score carried out on selected postpartum days showed that mothers taking care of all-male litters were more often involved in Active nursing than those rearing the mixed-sex ones, whereas the latter were found more often Laying still out of the nest. Basal and stress-induced corticosterone (CORT) secretion was increased in unisexually reared pups following maternal deprivation, an effect limited to PND 3. In general, neuroendocrine and behavioural responses to AMPH were found to be dissociated and were affected by sexual segregation only in conjunction with maternal deprivation. On PND 3, AMPH injection (1 or 3 mg/kg, i.p.) decreased CORT secretion in deprived unisexually reared subjects without affecting their behaviour. As a whole, behavioural changes due to unisexual rearing were limited to female subjects. On PND 8, unisexually reared females showed, upon maternal deprivation, a generalized shift to the left in the dose-response curve to AMPH for Crossing behaviour, while on PND 18 AMPH-induced stereotypies were considerably reduced in sexually segregated females, especially following maternal deprivation. Thus, maternal deprivation appeared to "sensitize" the monoaminergic system to an AMPH challenge. The individual behavioural and neuroendocrine profiles shown in response to a stressful challenge suggest that changes in social stimulation early during development might produce subtle shifts in the function of selected central monoaminergic systems.

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“…Moreover, maternal investment allocated to male or female newborn was similar provided the litter contained at least one male, implying that the presence of a male newborn promotes maternal behaviour, a pattern also observed in neonatal rats and attributed to olfactory interactions between mother and young (Moore 1979(Moore , 1985. This effect appears to be restricted to a short time after birth and could be related to the neonatal secretion of androgens by males (Corbier et al 1978;Moore and Samonte 1986).…”

Section: The L R C Modelmentioning

confidence: 97%

Influence of social factors on sex ratio at birth, maternal investment and young survival in a prosimian primate

Perret

1990

Behav Ecol Sociobiol

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In order to determine whether social factors influence sex ratio at birth in lesser mouse lemurs, experiments were conducted during 5 successive breeding periods on 51 females. At the beginning of the breeding season, females were either isolated (I) or grouped (G) in heterosexual groups with an increasing number of females (2, 3 or 4). To ensure mating, I females were introduced in a group only during the oestrous period. After mating, both I and G females were isolated during pregnancy and lactation. Reproductive capacities of females in terms of oestrus occurrences (n = 324), impregnations (n=210), pregnancies (n= 136) or abortions (n =38) or litter sizes (1-3 young) were affected neither by age and parity of females nor by group housing prior to conception. G females produced significantly more sons than daughters (67% males for 189 newborn) while females living alone except during the mating period demonstrated a significant inverse tendency (39.6% males for 96 newborn). Distribution of sexes in litters was statistically different from random and varied according to the shift of sex ratio at birth. In G females, the shift in the sex ratio towards males was consistent across the different groups, independent of the number of females living together, suggesting that the presence of only 1 female is sufficient to induce a bias in the sex ratio. No correlation was found between infant survival at weaning and age, parity or group housing of the mother. The maternal investment allocated to male or female newborn was similar provided the litter contained at least I male. In litters without males, growth and survival of female infants were significantly less. These results on sex ratio bias in captive female mouse lemurs agree with directions of bias predicted by the local resource competition model for facultative sex ratio adjustment (Clark 1978). Nevertheless, the pattern observed in mouse lemurs appears to be independent of the nutritional state of the female and of differential maternal investment.

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Preputial glands of infant rats (Rattus norvegicus) provide chemosignals for maternal discrimination of sex.

Cited by 28 publications

References 26 publications

Is rat-dam licking behavior regulated by pups’ preputial gland secretion?

Is rat-dam licking behavior regulated by pups’ preputial gland secretion?

Sexual segregation in infant mice: behavioural and neuroendocrine responses to d -amphetamine administration

Influence of social factors on sex ratio at birth, maternal investment and young survival in a prosimian primate

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