Academic Journal
Pregnancy modulates responses to male odors in house mice.
| Τίτλος: | Pregnancy modulates responses to male odors in house mice. |
|---|---|
| Συγγραφείς: | Miller CH; Department of Neurobiology and Behavior, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, USA; Department of Psychology, UCSD, San Diego, CA, USA. Electronic address: cam026@ucsd.edu., Reichard TM; Department of Neurobiology and Behavior, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, USA., Yang J; Department of Neurobiology and Behavior, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, USA., Carlson-Clarke B; Department of Neurobiology and Behavior, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, USA., Vogt CC; Department of Neurobiology and Behavior, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, USA., Warden MR; Department of Neurobiology and Behavior, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, USA., Sheehan MJ; Department of Neurobiology and Behavior, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, USA. Electronic address: msheehan@cornell.edu. |
| Πηγή: | Hormones and behavior [Horm Behav] 2025 Oct; Vol. 175, pp. 105802. Date of Electronic Publication: 2025 Aug 08. |
| Τύπος έκδοσης: | Journal Article |
| Γλώσσα: | English |
| Στοιχεία περιοδικού: | Publisher: Academic Press Country of Publication: United States NLM ID: 0217764 Publication Model: Print-Electronic Cited Medium: Internet ISSN: 1095-6867 (Electronic) Linking ISSN: 0018506X NLM ISO Abbreviation: Horm Behav Subsets: MEDLINE |
| Imprint Name(s): | Original Publication: New York, London, Academic Press. |
| Ιατρικοί όροι (MeSH): | Sexual Behavior, Animal*/physiology , Smell*/physiology , Odorants*, Behavior, Animal/physiology ; Animals ; Female ; Male ; Mice ; Pregnancy ; Pheromones ; Social Behavior |
| Περίληψη: | Pregnancy induces widespread physiological and behavioral changes, yet its impact on social decision-making remains poorly understood. Here, we show that reproductive status modulates female responses to male odors in house mice, revealing striking status-specific behavioral patterns. Estrous females displayed attraction to novel male odors, consistent with a motivation to mate. In contrast, pregnant females exhibited strong aversion - an anticipatory shift likely aimed at avoiding future infanticidal males. This status-dependent approach-avoidance response was recapitulated to the male urinary pheromone darcin, highlighting its robustness as a male signal. These findings suggest that reproductive status modulates odor-driven decision-making, balancing mating opportunities with offspring protection. This shift is likely mediated by hormonal fluctuations such as rising progesterone and estrogen, that act on neural circuits involved in olfaction, threat detection, and social motivation. Behavioral responses were further shaped by the richness and context of social odors, supporting combinatorial processing of urinary pheromones. This aligns with mechanisms such as stud odor imprinting and self-referential matching for inbreeding avoidance. Overall, our results point to anticipatory behavioral adaptations during pregnancy that prepare females for the challenges of motherhood. (Copyright © 2025. Published by Elsevier Inc.) |
| Competing Interests: | Declaration of competing interest The authors declare no competing interests. |
| Contributed Indexing: | Keywords: Darcin; Estrus/estrous; Major urinary proteins (MUPs); Pheromones; Preference; Pregnancy; Social odor |
| Substance Nomenclature: | 0 (Pheromones) |
| Entry Date(s): | Date Created: 20250809 Date Completed: 20250926 Latest Revision: 20250926 |
| Update Code: | 20260130 |
| DOI: | 10.1016/j.yhbeh.2025.105802 |
| PMID: | 40782468 |
| Βάση Δεδομένων: | MEDLINE |
| ISSN: | 1095-6867 |
|---|---|
| DOI: | 10.1016/j.yhbeh.2025.105802 |