A functional circuit underlying male sexual behaviour in the female mouse brain
Abstract
In mice, pheromone detection is mediated by the vomeronasal organ and the main olfactory epithelium. Male mice that are deficient for Trpc2, an ion channel specifically expressed in VNO neurons and essential for VNO sensory transduction, are impaired in sex discrimination and male-male aggression. We report here that Trpc2-/- female mice show a reduction in female-specific behaviour, including maternal aggression and lactating behaviour. Strikingly, mutant females display unique characteristics of male sexual and courtship behaviours such as mounting, pelvic thrust, solicitation, anogenital olfactory investigation, and emission of complex ultrasonic vocalizations towards male and female conspecific mice. The same behavioural phenotype is observed after VNO surgical removal in adult animals, and is not accompanied by disruption of the oestrous cycle and sex hormone levels. These findings suggest that VNO-mediated pheromone inputs act in wild-type females to repress male behaviour and activate female behaviours. Moreover, they imply that functional neuronal circuits underlying male-specific behaviours exist in the normal female mouse brain.
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In rodents, processing of animal cues by the vomeronasal system is essential for discrimination of sex-specific social signals and identification of predators.
“In rodents, the processing of animal cues by the vomeronasal system is essential for the discrimination of sex-specific social signals and identification of predators (Dulac and Torello, 2003; Ben-Shaul et al., 2010; Kimchi et al., 2007; Stowers et al., 2002).”
From Neuronal Representation of Social Information in the Medial Amygdala of Awake Behaving Mice (2017) · cites this paper as Kimchi et al., 2007
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- Authors
- Kimchi, T., Xu, J., & Dulac, C.
- Affiliations
- Howard Hughes Medical Institute (US)
- Corresponding author
- Kimchi, Tali
- Dulac, Catherine
- Venue
- Nature
- Published
- 2007-08
- Volume
- 448
- Issue
- 7157
- Pages
- 1009-1014
- ISSN
- 0028-0836 (ISSN-L)
- 1476-4687
- OpenAlex
- W2107897069
- Cited by
- 445
- References
- 29
- Citations by year
- 2026: 8 · 2025: 11 · 2024: 18 · 2023: 31 · 2022: 13 · 2021: 27 · 2020: 23 · 2019: 30 · 2018: 20 · 2017: 23 · 2016: 19 · 2015: 20 · 2014: 28 · 2013: 27 · 2012: 16
- FWCI
- 18.13
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Licence
- www.springer.com/tdm (tdm)
- Locations
- Nature (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- RePEc: Research Papers in Economics (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- Howard Hughes Medical Institute
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Sensory Systems › Olfactory and Sensory Function Studies
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Neuroendocrine regulation and behavior
- Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Molecular Biology › Sexual Differentiation and Disorders
- Keywords
- vomeronasal organ, TRPC2, female sexual behavior, pheromone detection, maternal aggression, lactation, ultrasonic vocalizations, courtship behavior, sex differences in behavior, female mice
- MeSH terms
- Aggression, Animals, Animal Communication, Brain, Courtship, Female, Genotype, Lactation, Male, Maternal Behavior, Neurons, Pheromones, Sexual Behavior, Animal, Sex Characteristics, Smell, Social Dominance, Testosterone, Ultrasonics, Vomeronasal Organ, TRPC Cation Channels, Mice
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