Journal: Scientific Reports

Article Title: Peripheral oxytocin injection modulates vomeronasal sensory activity and reduces pup-directed aggression in male mice

doi: 10.1038/s41598-020-77061-7

Figure Lengend Snippet: Social experience with a female changes sensory activity and behavior in male mice. ( a ) Percentage of male subjects displaying pup-directed aggression, depending on the duration of cohabitation with a female (dpc). Groups are virgin mice (without contact with a female), dpc2 (2 days of cohabitation), dpc7, dpc15, and dpc22 (n = 6–12 animals). For each group, the number of aggressive individuals out of all mice assayed is represented above the bar. ( b ) Number of vomeronasal neurons immunostained for the activation marker pS6 (normalized to 50,000 μm 2 of sensory epithelium) in subjects exposed to pup odors in the same groups shown in ( a ) (n = 3–6 animals; mean + S.E.M.; gray dots represent values for individual mice). *P < 0.05; ***P < 0.001; one-way ANOVA followed by Honestly Significantly Different post-hoc analysis; difference relative to ‘virgin’ group. See also Supplementary Table for metrics of statistical tests and means calculated across all sections. ( c ) Representative images of VNO coronal sections subjected to pS6 immunostaining (green fluorescence) in groups shown in ( a ). DAPI nuclear staining is shown in blue. Positive control is VNO from animals exposed to predator odor (cat). ep vomeronasal sensory epithelium, lu vomeronasal organ lumen. Bar 100 μm.

Article Snippet: Slides wee incubated in a solution containing rabbit anti-pS6 antibody (1:200; Invitrogen Phospho-Ribosomal Protein S6 pSer244/pSer247 Cat. Num.

Techniques: Activity Assay, Activation Assay, Marker, Immunostaining, Fluorescence, Staining, Positive Control

Journal: Scientific Reports

Article Title: Peripheral oxytocin injection modulates vomeronasal sensory activity and reduces pup-directed aggression in male mice

doi: 10.1038/s41598-020-77061-7

Figure Lengend Snippet: Manipulation of oxytocin function alters VNO activity in male mice exposed to pup odors. ( a ) Regimens of oxytocin (agonist) intraperitoneal injections in adult virgin mice. OXT oxytocin. Numbers represent days since the first injection. Black cells (right) represent days with oxytocin injection; gray cells indicate days with saline injection. Groups #A and #B represent situations where oxytocin is injected for a few days and the animals are analyzed immediately after. Group #C includes animals subjected to long-term oxytocin injection for 21 days. Group #D has mice injected with oxytocin for a few days followed by several days without oxytocin injection prior to analysis. Cells with red outlines are days when injected virgin animals were exposed to pup odors, evaluated for pup-directed aggressive behavior and euthanized to harvest VNOs for activity assays. ( b ) Number of active VNO cells (normalized to 50,000 μm 2 of sensory epithelium), as judged by pS6 immunostaining (green fluorescence in representative VNO coronal section images on the right), after exposure of injected virgin animals in groups #A or #B to pup odors. DAPI nuclear stain is shown in blue. n = 4–5 animals; 3–6 sections per animal; gray dots represent values for individual mice. See Supplementary Table for statistical test metrics and means across all sections. ( c ) Similar to ( b ), but for injected virgin animals in groups #C and #D, according to regimens in panel ( a ). n = 5 animals; 3–6 sections per animal. ( d ) Percentage of subjects displaying pup-directed aggression in control (n = 17 mice) and oxytocin-injected (n = 10 mice) virgin animals (group #A). For each group, the number of aggressive individuals out of all mice assayed is represented above the bar. ( e ) Left panel: number of pS6-positive cells in the VNO (normalized to 50,000 μm 2 of sensory epithelium) from dpc15 animals injected with oxytocin receptor antagonist L-371,257 (n = 6 mice) or DMSO (control; n = 6 mice). Right panel, corresponding representative images of VNO coronal sections subjected to pS6 staining. Ep VNO epithelium, lu VNO lumen. *P < 0.05, **P < 0.01, ***P < 0.001; one-tailed Welch's t test assuming unequal variances. Bar is 100 μm.

Article Snippet: Slides wee incubated in a solution containing rabbit anti-pS6 antibody (1:200; Invitrogen Phospho-Ribosomal Protein S6 pSer244/pSer247 Cat. Num.

Techniques: Activity Assay, Injection, Saline, Immunostaining, Fluorescence, Staining, Control, One-tailed Test

Journal: Scientific Reports

Article Title: Peripheral oxytocin injection modulates vomeronasal sensory activity and reduces pup-directed aggression in male mice

doi: 10.1038/s41598-020-77061-7

Figure Lengend Snippet: Social experience with a female changes sensory activity in response to predator odor in male mice. Left: number of pS6-positive neuron counts in the VNO (normalized to 50,000 μm 2 of sensory epithelium), in virgin male mice and in males after 15 days of contact with a female (dpc15) exposed to snake stimuli (n = 4–6 animals; 6–13 sections per animal; gray dots represent values for individual mice). *P < 0.05, one-tailed Welch's t test assuming unequal variances. See also Supplementary Table for statistical test metrics. Right: representative microscopy images of VNO coronal sections after pS6 immunostaining (green fluorescence) from subjects in ( a ). DAPI nuclear staining is shown in blue. ep VNO epithelium, lu VNO lumen. Bar is 100 μm.

Article Snippet: Slides wee incubated in a solution containing rabbit anti-pS6 antibody (1:200; Invitrogen Phospho-Ribosomal Protein S6 pSer244/pSer247 Cat. Num.

Techniques: Activity Assay, One-tailed Test, Microscopy, Immunostaining, Fluorescence, Staining