title: Response of male mice to odours of female mice in different stages of oestrous cycle: self-grooming behaviour and the effect of castration.
abstract: The behavioural assays were carried out in a Y-maze wherein intact, castrated and testosterone-treated male mice were exposed to oestrus and non-oestrus urine samples. The intact male mice investigated more frequently and spent more time in the Y-maze arm with oestrus urine than in that with non-oestrus urine. In contrast, the castrated mice were not attracted to oestrus urine, whereas testosterone-treated mice showed preference for oestrus urine. The rate of self-grooming was higher in intact males in case of exposure to oestrus urine while the rate was lower with respect to non-oestrus urine. However, castrated mice exhibited less self-grooming behaviour which was partially restored by testosterone treatment. The results suggest that self-grooming behaviour is an indicator of detection and discrimination of oestrus by males, and supports the androgen role in male chemosensory ability to discriminate between oestrus and non-oestrus female odours.
authors.forename: Shanmugam
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Achiraman
authors.forename: Devaraj
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: SankarGanesh
authors.forename: Soundarapandian
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kannan
authors.forename: Soundararajan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kamalakkannan
authors.forename: Natarajan
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Nirmala
authors.forename: Govindaraju
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Archunan
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002369:Castration; D030762:Estrous Cycle / Q000378:metabolism / Q000502:physiology*; D004971:Estrus / Q000378:metabolism / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006120:Grooming / Q000502:physiology; D008297:Male; D051379:Mice; D009812:Odorants; D012726:Sexual Behavior, Animal / Q000502:physiology*; D013739:Testosterone / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D013739:Testosterone