The Bruce effect: representational stability and memory formation in the accessory olfactory bulb of the female mouse
Date
2022-08-23
Authors
Yoles-Frenkel, Michal
Shea, Stephen D.
Davison, Ian G.
Ben-Shaul, Yoram
Version
Accepted manuscript
OA Version
Citation
M. Yoles-Frenkel, S.D. Shea, I.G. Davison, Y. Ben-Shaul. 2022. "The Bruce effect: Representational stability and memory formation in the accessory olfactory bulb of the female mouse." Cell Reports, Volume 40, Issue 8, pp.111262-. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.celrep.2022.111262
Abstract
In the Bruce effect, a mated female mouse becomes resistant to the pregnancy-blocking effect of the stud. Various lines of evidence suggest that this form of behavioral imprinting results from reduced sensitivity of the female's accessory olfactory bulb (AOB) to the stud's chemosignals. However, the AOB's combinatorial code implies that diminishing responses to one individual will distort representations of other stimuli. Here, we record extracellular responses of AOB neurons in mated and unmated female mice while presenting urine stimuli from the stud and from other sources. We find that, while initial sensory responses in the AOB (within a timescale required to guide social interactions) remain stable, responses to extended stimulation (as required for eliciting the pregnancy block) display selective attenuation of stud-responsive neurons. Such temporal disassociation could allow attenuation of slow-acting endocrine processes in a stimulus-specific manner without compromising ongoing representations that guide behavior.
Description
License
This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).