Olfactory cues are sufficient to elicit social approach behaviors but not social transmission of food preference in C57BL/6J mice
Open accessAbstract
Mouse models for the study of autistic-like behaviors are increasingly needed to test hypotheses about the causes of autism, and to evaluate potential treatments. Both the automated three-chambered social approach test and social transmission of food preference have been proposed as mouse behavioral assays with face validity to diagnostic symptoms of autism, including aberrant reciprocal social interactions and impaired communication. Both assays measure aspects of normal social behavior in the mouse. However, little is known regarding the salient cues present in each assay that elicit normal social approach and communication. To deconstruct the critical components, we focused on delivering discrete social and non-social olfactory and visual cues within the context of each assay. Results indicate that social olfactory cues were sufficient to elicit normal sociability in the three-chambered social approach test. On social transmission of food preference, isolated social olfactory cues were sufficient to induce social investigation, but not sufficient to induce food preference. These findings indicate that olfactory cues are important in mouse social interaction, but that additional sensory cues are necessary in certain situations. The present evidence that both the three-chambered social approach assay and the social transmission of food preference assay require socially relevant cues to elicit normal behavior supports the use of these two assays to investigate autism-related behavioral phenotypes in mice.
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Ryan and co-workers showed that male C57BL/6J mice in the three-chambered apparatus test displayed equal amount of interest in the stimulus animal independent of its sex.
“Ryan and co-workers showed that male C57BL/6J mice in the three-chambered apparatus test displayed equal amount of interest in the stimulus animal independent of its sex [27].”
From Effects of sex and gonadectomy on social investigation and social recognition in mice (2015) · cites this paper as [27]
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Self-citationAutism‐like behavioral phenotypes in BTBR T+tf/J mice
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Mouse Behavioral Assays Relevant to the Symptoms of Autism*
Crawley, J. N. (2007) · Brain Pathology · doi:10.1111/j.1750-3639.2007.00096.x · Cited by 541 · cited 2× · see citing works
“The STFP task has also been identified as an assay with potential face validity to the symptoms of autism [16,39].”
BackgroundSelf-citationSpaced training induces normal long-term memory in CREB mutant mice
Kogan, J. H., Frankland, P. W., Blendy, J. A., Coblentz, J., Marowitz, Z., Schütz, G., & Silva, A. J. (1997) · Current Biology · doi:10.1016/s0960-9822(06)00022-4 · Cited by 350 · see citing works
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The nose knows who's who: chemosensory individuality and mate recognition in mice
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“However, previous findings argues against that notion; Ryan and co-workers showed that male C57BL/6J mice in the three-chambered apparatus test displayed equal amount of interest in the stimulus animal independent of its sex [27].”
ResultPuścian, A., Łęski, S., Kasprowicz, G., Winiarski, M., Borowska, J., Nikolaev, T., Boguszewski, P. M., Lipp, H.-P., & Knapska, E. (2016) · eLife · doi:10.7554/elife.19532 · Cited by 69 · see citing works
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- Authors
- Ryan, B. C., Young, N. B., Moy, S. S., & Crawley, J. N.
- Affiliations
- University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (US)
- Corresponding author
- Ryan, Bryce C.
- Venue
- Behavioural Brain Research
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2008-11
- Volume
- 193
- Issue
- 2
- Pages
- 235-242
- ISSN
- 0166-4328 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC2630588
- OpenAlex
- W2032781065
- Cited by
- 95
- References
- 9
- Citations by year
- 2026: 9 · 2025: 3 · 2024: 6 · 2023: 7 · 2022: 4 · 2021: 5 · 2020: 3 · 2019: 3 · 2018: 4 · 2017: 1 · 2016: 6 · 2015: 7 · 2014: 5 · 2013: 9 · 2012: 5
- FWCI
- 3.11
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
- Locations
- Behavioural Brain Research (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
- Carolina Digital Repository (University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill) (submittedVersion)
- UNC Libraries
- Funders
- National Institute for Health and Care Research
- National Institutes of Health
- University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
- National Institute of Mental Health (HD40127)
- Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (T32-HD-40127, P30-HD03110, P30HD003110, T32HD040127)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Autism Spectrum Disorder Research
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Neuroendocrine regulation and behavior
- Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Genetics › Genetics and Neurodevelopmental Disorders
- Keywords
- olfactory cues, social approach behavior, social transmission of food preference, autism-like behavior, mouse models of autism, sociability, social investigation, sensory cues, C57BL/6J mice
- MeSH terms
- Animals, Animal Communication, Autistic Disorder, Behavior, Animal, Biological Assay, Cues, Disease Models, Animal, Exploratory Behavior, Food Preferences, Male, Mice, Inbred C57BL, Social Behavior, Recognition, Psychology, Mice
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