Identification of cells involved in pheromonal memory governing pregnancy maintenance.

2014 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 25660252
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Challenging Exploratory Research
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Research Field: Integrative animal science
• Research Institution: Azabu University
• Principal Investigator: MOGI KAZUTAKA 麻布大学, 獣医学部, 准教授 (50347308)
• Co-Investigator(Renkei-kenkyūsha): MORIYA Keiko 公益財団法人東京都医学総合研究所, 認知症・高次脳機能研究分野, 研究員 (70392371)
• Project Period (FY): 2013-04-01 – 2015-03-31
• Keywords: 副嗅球 / フェロモン / ブルース効果 / 社会記憶

Outline of Final Research Achievements

Female mice terminate their pregnancy following exposure to the urinary pheromones from unfamiliar males. However, mated partner’s pheromones do not block the pregnancy. It has been suggested that the female mice can memorize specific pheromones from their mated males in the accessory olfactory bulb (AOB) and the pheromonal memory prevents female mice from pregnancy block. The present study was conducted to investigate the cellular localization concerned with pheromonal memory. In experiments using female GFP-GluR1c-fosTg mice, some cells were activated both by mating and by 2nd exposure of the mated males, and those cells were observed in the caudal part of granule cell layer in the AOB. When we suppressed the activity of those cells in female DREADDs-Gic-fosTg mice during 2nd exposure of their mated males, the female mice terminated the pregnancy. These suggested that the cells concerned with pheromonal memory were localized in the caudal part of granule cell layer in the AOB.

Free Research Field

神経行動学