Female urine-induced male mice ultrasonic vocalizations, but not scent-marking, is modulated by social experience

Female urine-induced male mice ultrasonic vocalizations (FiUSV) are ultrasonic vocalizations produced by adult male mice after presentation of adult female urine, whereas intruder-induced ultrasonic vocalizations (IiUSV) are produced by resident adult female mice when interacting with an intruder female mouse. These affiliative behaviors may be reduced when mice have decreased wellbeing or are in pain and distress. To determine whether FiUSV and IiUSV can be used as proxy indicators of animal wellbeing, we assessed FiUSV produced by male C57BL/6J mice in response to female urine and IiUSV produced by female C57BL/6J mice in response to a female intruder at baseline and 1 and 3 h after administration of a sublethal dose of LPS (6 or 12.5 mg/kg IP) or an equal volume of saline. Behavior was assessed by evaluating orbital tightness, posture, and piloerection immediately after USV collection. We hypothesized that LPS-injected mice would have a decreased inclination to mate or to interact with same-sex conspecifics and therefore would produce fewer USV. At baseline, 32 of 33 male mice produced FiUSV (149 ± 127 USV in 2 min), whereas all 36 female mice produced IiUSV (370 ± 156 USV in 2 min). Saline-injected mice showed no change from baseline at the 1- and 3-h time points, whereas LPS-injected mice demonstrated significantly fewer USV than baseline, producing no USV at both 1 and 3 h. According to orbital tightness, posture, and piloerection, LPS-injected mice showed signs of poor wellbeing at 3 h but not 1 h. These findings indicate that FiUSV and IiUSV can be used as proxy indicators of animal wellbeing associated with acute inflammation in mice and can be detected before the onset of clinical signs.

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Female Urine-induced Ultrasonic Vocalizations in Male C57BL/6J Mice as a Proxy Indicator for Postoperative Pain

Journal of the American Association for Laboratory Animal Science ◽

10.30802/aalas-jaalas-19-000059 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 59 (2) ◽

pp. 204-211

Author(s):

Brian J Smith ◽

Kate E P Bruner ◽

Ann M Hess ◽

Lon V Kendall

Keyword(s):

Postoperative Pain ◽

Postoperative Analgesia ◽

Ultrasonic Vocalizations ◽

Male Mice ◽

Sham Surgery ◽

Analgesic Regimen ◽

Before And After ◽

Female Urine ◽

Postoperative Time ◽

Time Point

Objectively recognizing postoperative pain in mice is challenging, making it difficult to determine an appropriate postoperative analgesic regimen. Adult male mice produce ultrasonic vocalizations after exposure to adult female urine (FiUSV). To determine if FiUSV can be used as a indicator of postoperative pain, FiUSV produced by male C57BL/6J mice were assessed for 5 d before and after vasectomy or sham surgery with or without sustained-release buprenorphine. Postoperative pain was assessed by monitoring vocalization using an ultrasonic microphone and by evaluating orbital tightness, posture, and piloerection at postoperative time points. Before vasectomy or sham surgery, 25 of 38 male mice produced FiUSV on 4 of 5 d (143 ± 93 FiUSV). Vasectomized mice without postoperative analgesia produced significantly fewer FiUSV (59 ± 26 FiUSV) compared with baseline (212 ± 102 FiUSV) at 4 h postoperatively, but returned to baseline by 28 h. Vasectomized mice treated with buprenorphine and sham-surgery mice had no change in FiUSV from baseline at any time point after surgery. Activity was decreased compared with baseline in vasectomized mice, regardless of receiving postoperative analgesia or not, but only at the 4-h time point. There were no differences in behavior scores between vasectomized mice and sham-surgery mice at any time point. These results show that FiUSV can be used to detect postoperative pain in male C57BL/6J mice after vasectomy.

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Female mice respond to male ultrasonic ‘songs’ with approach behaviour

Biology Letters ◽

10.1098/rsbl.2009.0317 ◽

2009 ◽

Vol 5 (5) ◽

pp. 589-592 ◽

Cited By ~ 130

Author(s):

K. Hammerschmidt ◽

K. Radyushkin ◽

H. Ehrenreich ◽

J. Fischer

Keyword(s):

Male Mouse ◽

Experimental Situation ◽

Structure And Function ◽

Ultrasonic Vocalizations ◽

Male Mice ◽

Playback Experiments ◽

Female Mice ◽

And Function ◽

Female Responses ◽

Artificial Control

The ultrasonic vocalizations of mice are attracting increasing attention, because they have been recognized as an informative readout in genetically modified strains. In addition, the observation that male mice produce elaborate sequences of ultrasonic vocalizations (‘song’) when exposed to female mice or their scents has sparked a debate as to whether these sounds are—in terms of their structure and function—analogous to bird song. We conducted playback experiments with cycling female mice to explore the function of male mouse songs. Using a place preference design, we show that these vocalizations elicited approach behaviour in females. In contrast, the playback of whistle-like artificial control sounds did not evoke approach responses. Surprisingly, the females also did not respond to pup isolation calls. In addition, female responses did not vary in relation to reproductive cycle, i.e. whether they were in oestrus or not. Furthermore, our data revealed a rapid habituation of subjects to the experimental situation, which stands in stark contrast to other species' responses to courtship vocalizations. Nevertheless, our results clearly demonstrate that male mouse songs elicit females' interest.

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Castration, sexual experience, and female urine odor preferences in adult BDF1 male mice

Bulletin of the Psychonomic Society ◽

10.3758/bf03336714 ◽

1975 ◽

Vol 5 (1) ◽

pp. 84-86 ◽

Cited By ~ 10

Author(s):

Elizabeth Rose ◽

Lee C. Drickamer

Keyword(s):

Sexual Experience ◽

Male Mice ◽

Female Urine ◽

Urine Odor ◽

Odor Preferences

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Adult Male Mice Emit Context-Specific Ultrasonic Vocalizations That Are Modulated by Prior Isolation or Group Rearing Environment

PLoS ONE ◽

10.1371/journal.pone.0029401 ◽

2012 ◽

Vol 7 (1) ◽

pp. e29401 ◽

Cited By ~ 86

Author(s):

Jonathan Chabout ◽

Pierre Serreau ◽

Elodie Ey ◽

Ludovic Bellier ◽

Thierry Aubin ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Adult Male ◽

Ultrasonic Vocalizations ◽

Male Mice ◽

Rearing Environment ◽

Context Specific

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Effects of Alternative Social Experience on the Sexual Function of Male Mice

Bulletin of Experimental Biology and Medicine ◽

10.1023/b:bebm.0000020217.37770.42 ◽

2003 ◽

Vol 136 (6) ◽

pp. 607-610 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

A. V. Amikishieva ◽

M. V. Ovsyukova

Keyword(s):

Sexual Function ◽

Social Experience ◽

Male Mice

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Experimental Evaluation of Spontaneous Olfactory Discrimination in Two Nocturnal Primates (Microcebus murinus and M. lehilahytsara)

Chemical Senses ◽

10.1093/chemse/bjaa051 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 45 (7) ◽

pp. 581-592

Author(s):

Annika Kollikowski ◽

Selina Jeschke ◽

Ute Radespiel

Keyword(s):

Scent Marking ◽

Reproductive Season ◽

Urine Samples ◽

Olfactory Communication ◽

Additional Tool ◽

Short Period ◽

Mouse Lemurs ◽

Female Urine ◽

Urine Odor ◽

Solitary Species

Abstract Solitary species often employ chemocommunication to facilitate mate localization. In the solitarily foraging, nocturnal mouse lemurs (Microcebus spp.), females advertise their short period of estrus acoustically and by increased scent marking, whereas males search widely for receptive females. Both sexes can be trained by operant conditioning to discriminate conspecific from heterospecific urine scent. However, it is not known, if males during and outside the reproductive season show different spontaneous interest in conspecific female urine, and if urine from estrous females elicits a higher investigation response than that from diestrous females. We established a spontaneous discrimination paradigm and quantified olfactory investigation responses of 21 captive male mouse lemurs of M. lehilahytsara and M. murinus when presenting 1 conspecific and 1 heterospecific female urine odor sample simultaneously. Overall, M. murinus investigated stimuli significantly longer than M. lehilahytsara. Moreover, males of M. murinus showed significantly longer olfactory investigation at conspecific urine samples during but not outside the reproductive season. This indicates that female urinary cues are spontaneously discriminated by male M. murinus and that this discrimination is more relevant during the reproductive season. However, males of both species did not show different responses toward urine samples from estrous versus diestrous females. Finally, male age did not correlate with the overall duration of olfactory investigation, and investigation levels were similar when testing with fresh or frozen urine samples. In conclusion, this new spontaneous discrimination paradigm provides a useful additional tool to study olfactory communication of nocturnal primates from the receiver’s perspective.

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Female Urinary Chemosignals Influence Scent-Marking Behavior in Male Mongolian Gerbils (Meriones unguiculatus)

Zeitschrift für Naturforschung C ◽

10.1515/znc-1985-11-1235 ◽

1985 ◽

Vol 40 (11-12) ◽

pp. 936-938 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Bodo Probst

Keyword(s):

Direct Contact ◽

Scent Marking ◽

Meriones Unguiculatus ◽

Scent Mark ◽

Mongolian Gerbils ◽

Similar Increase ◽

Low Level ◽

Female Urine ◽

Urinary Chemosignals

Abstract The influence of females on the amount of scent-marking behavior displayed by male Mongolian gerbils was investigated. Males isolated from females scent mark at a low level which increases more than two-fold if females are present in the room for three weeks without direct contact with the males. A similar increase is obtained by application of pooled female urine directly onto the males’ noses.

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