title: Responses to sulfated steroids of female mouse vomeronasal sensory neurons.
abstract: The rodent vomeronasal organ plays an important role in many social behaviors. Using the calcium imaging technique with the dye fluo-4 we measured intracellular calcium concentration changes induced by the application of sulfated steroids to neurons isolated from the vomeronasal organ of female mice. We found that a mix of 10 sulfated steroids from the androgen, estrogen, pregnanolone, and glucocorticoid families induced a calcium response in 71% of neurons. Moreover, 31% of the neurons responded to a mix composed of 3 glucocorticoid-derived compounds, and 28% responded to a mix composed of 3 pregnanolone-derived compounds. Immunohistochemistry showed that neurons responding to sulfated steroids expressed phosphodiesterase 4A, a marker specific for apical neurons expressing V1R receptors. None of the neuron that responded to 1 mix responded also to the other, indicating a specificity of the responses. Some neurons responded to more than 1 individual component of the glucocorticoid-derived mix tested at high concentration, suggesting that these neurons are broadly tuned, although they still displayed strong specificity, remaining unresponsive to high concentrations of the ineffective compounds.
authors.affiliation: Neurobiology Sector, Scuola Internazionale Superiore di Studi Avanzati (SISSA), and Italian Institute of Technology, SISSA Unit, Trieste, Italy.
authors.forename: Fulvio
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Celsi
authors.forename: Anna
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: D'Errico
authors.forename: Anna
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Menini
mesh_terms: D000814:Aniline Compounds / Q000737:chemistry; D000818:Animals; D002118:Calcium / Q000378:metabolism; D054703:Cyclic Nucleotide Phosphodiesterases, Type 4 / Q000378:metabolism; D005260:Female; D066298:In Vitro Techniques; D051379:Mice; D008810:Mice, Inbred C57BL; D011984:Sensory Receptor Cells / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000201:enzymology / Q000378:metabolism; D013256:Steroids / Q000737:chemistry / Q000494:pharmacology*; D013431:Sulfates / Q000737:chemistry*; D019147:Vomeronasal Organ / Q000378:metabolism*; D014966:Xanthenes / Q000737:chemistry
chemical_list: D000814:Aniline Compounds; C409648:Fluo 4; D013256:Steroids; D013431:Sulfates; D014966:Xanthenes; D054703:Cyclic Nucleotide Phosphodiesterases, Type 4; D002118:Calcium