Elsevier

Behavioural Brain Research

Volume 259, 1 February 2014, Pages 292-296
Behavioural Brain Research

Short communication
Focal lesions within the ventral striato-pallidum abolish attraction for male chemosignals in female mice

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bbr.2013.11.020Get rights and content

Highlights

  • We lesion the medioventral striato-pallidum (mvStP) in female mice.

  • These lesions abolish female mice innate preference for male chemosignals.

  • Lesions of the posterolateral striato-pallidum do not affect this preference.

  • The mvStP controls intersexual attraction mediated by chemosignals in female mice.

  • The mvStP processes the hedonic properties of biological chemical signals.

Abstract

In rodents, socio-sexual behaviour is largely mediated by chemosensory cues, some of which are rewarding stimuli. Female mice display an innate attraction towards male chemosignals, dependent on the vomeronasal system. This behaviour likely reflects the hedonic value of sexual chemosignals. The anteromedial aspect of the olfactory tubercle, along with its associated islands of Calleja, receives vomeronasal inputs and sexually-dimorphic vasopressinergic innervation. Thus, we hypothesised that this portion of the ventral striato-pallidum, known to be involved in reward processing, might be important for sexual odorant-guided behaviours. In this study, we demonstrate that lesions of this region, but not of regions in the posterolateral striato-pallidum, abolish the attraction of female mice for male chemosignals, without affecting significantly their preference for a different natural reward (a sucrose solution). These results show that, at least in female mice, the integrity of the anterior aspect of the medioventral striato-pallidum, comprising a portion of the olfactory tubercle and associated islands of Calleja, is necessary for the attraction for male chemosignals. We suggest that this region contributes to the processing of the hedonic properties of biologically significant odorants.

Section snippets

Acknowledgement

Funded by the Spanish Ministry of Education and Science-FEDER (BFU2007-67912-C02-01/BFI and BFU2010-16656). The authors thank Amparo Novejarque, Nicolás Gutiérrez-Castellanos, Joana Martínez-Ricós and Marcos Otero-García for fruitful discussion on an earlier version of this report, and María José Cano-Cebrián for technical assistance.

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