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Chemical Senses Advance Access originally published online on October 27, 2006
Chemical Senses 2007 32(1):57-64; doi:10.1093/chemse/bjl036
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© The Author 2006. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org

Removal of the Vomeronasal Organ Blocks the Stress-Induced Hyperthermia Response to Alarm Pheromone in Male Rats

Yasushi Kiyokawa1,2, Takefumi Kikusui2, Yukari Takeuchi2 and Yuji Mori2

1 Research Fellow of the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, 1-8 Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo 102-8472, Japan 2 Laboratory of Veterinary Ethology, University of Tokyo, 1-1-1 Yayoi, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113-8657, Japan

Correspondence to be sent to: Yasushi Kiyokawa, Laboratory of Veterinary Ethology, University of Tokyo, 1-1-1 Yayoi, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113-8657, Japan. e-mail: kiyokawa-ns{at}umin.ac.jp


  Abstract

Previously, we reported that male Wistar rats release alarm pheromone from their perianal region, which aggravates stress-induced hyperthermia (SIH) in pheromone-recipient rats. The subsequent discovery that this pheromone could be trapped in water enabled us to expose recipients to the pheromone in their home cages. Despite its apparent influence on autonomic and behavioral functions, we still had no clear evidence as to whether the alarm pheromone was perceived by the main olfactory system (MOS) or by the vomeronasal system. In this study, we investigated this question by exposing 3 types of recipients to alarm pheromone in their home cages: intact males (Intact), vomeronasal organ–excised males (VNX), and sham-operated males (Sham). The Intact and Sham recipients showed aggravated SIH in response to alarm pheromone, whereas the VNX recipients did not. In addition, the results of the habituation/dishabituation test and soybean agglutinin binding to the accessory olfactory bulb verified the complete ablation of the vomeronasal organ (VNO) with a functional MOS in the pheromone recipients. These results strongly suggest that male rats perceive alarm pheromone with the VNO.

Key words: alarm pheromone, anxiety, stress-induced hyperthermia, VNX, vomeronasal organ


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