Sex-specific processing of social cues in the medial amygdala
Animal–animal recognition within, and across species, is essential for predator avoidance and social interactions. Despite its essential role in orchestrating responses to animal cues, basic principles of information processing by the vomeronasal system are still unknown. The medial amygdala (MeA) o...
| Main Authors: | , , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
eLife Sciences Publications Ltd
2014-06-01
|
| Series: | eLife |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://elifesciences.org/articles/02743 |
| _version_ | 1818018564368498688 |
|---|---|
| author | Joseph F Bergan Yoram Ben-Shaul Catherine Dulac |
| author_facet | Joseph F Bergan Yoram Ben-Shaul Catherine Dulac |
| author_sort | Joseph F Bergan |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Animal–animal recognition within, and across species, is essential for predator avoidance and social interactions. Despite its essential role in orchestrating responses to animal cues, basic principles of information processing by the vomeronasal system are still unknown. The medial amygdala (MeA) occupies a central position in the vomeronasal pathway, upstream of hypothalamic centers dedicated to defensive and social responses. We have characterized sensory responses in the mouse MeA and uncovered emergent properties that shed new light onto the transformation of vomeronasal information into sex- and species-specific responses. In particular, we show that the MeA displays a degree of stimulus selectivity and a striking sexually dimorphic sensory representation that are not observed in the upstream relay of the accessory olfactory bulb (AOB). Furthermore, our results demonstrate that the development of sexually dimorphic circuits in the MeA requires steroid signaling near the time of puberty to organize the functional representation of sensory stimuli. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-14T07:41:20Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-58905073d1ea4b1bbb5faf1655606159 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2050-084X |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-14T07:41:20Z |
| publishDate | 2014-06-01 |
| publisher | eLife Sciences Publications Ltd |
| record_format | Article |
| series | eLife |
| spelling | doaj.art-58905073d1ea4b1bbb5faf16556061592022-12-22T02:05:29ZengeLife Sciences Publications LtdeLife2050-084X2014-06-01310.7554/eLife.02743Sex-specific processing of social cues in the medial amygdalaJoseph F Bergan0Yoram Ben-Shaul1Catherine Dulac2Molecular and Cellular Biology, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Harvard University, Cambridge, United StatesSchool of Medicine, Department of Medical Neurobiology, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem, IsraelMolecular and Cellular Biology, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Harvard University, Cambridge, United StatesAnimal–animal recognition within, and across species, is essential for predator avoidance and social interactions. Despite its essential role in orchestrating responses to animal cues, basic principles of information processing by the vomeronasal system are still unknown. The medial amygdala (MeA) occupies a central position in the vomeronasal pathway, upstream of hypothalamic centers dedicated to defensive and social responses. We have characterized sensory responses in the mouse MeA and uncovered emergent properties that shed new light onto the transformation of vomeronasal information into sex- and species-specific responses. In particular, we show that the MeA displays a degree of stimulus selectivity and a striking sexually dimorphic sensory representation that are not observed in the upstream relay of the accessory olfactory bulb (AOB). Furthermore, our results demonstrate that the development of sexually dimorphic circuits in the MeA requires steroid signaling near the time of puberty to organize the functional representation of sensory stimuli.https://elifesciences.org/articles/02743medial amygdalasensory representationsexual dimorphismvomeronasal systempheromonebehavior |
| spellingShingle | Joseph F Bergan Yoram Ben-Shaul Catherine Dulac Sex-specific processing of social cues in the medial amygdala eLife medial amygdala sensory representation sexual dimorphism vomeronasal system pheromone behavior |
| title | Sex-specific processing of social cues in the medial amygdala |
| title_full | Sex-specific processing of social cues in the medial amygdala |
| title_fullStr | Sex-specific processing of social cues in the medial amygdala |
| title_full_unstemmed | Sex-specific processing of social cues in the medial amygdala |
| title_short | Sex-specific processing of social cues in the medial amygdala |
| title_sort | sex specific processing of social cues in the medial amygdala |
| topic | medial amygdala sensory representation sexual dimorphism vomeronasal system pheromone behavior |
| url | https://elifesciences.org/articles/02743 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT josephfbergan sexspecificprocessingofsocialcuesinthemedialamygdala AT yorambenshaul sexspecificprocessingofsocialcuesinthemedialamygdala AT catherinedulac sexspecificprocessingofsocialcuesinthemedialamygdala |