Newborn Rabbit Responsiveness to the Mammary Pheromone is Concentration-dependent

The effect of the intensity of odour signals has rarely been investigated in the regulation of odour-guided behaviour in young mammals. This series of experiments used the mammary pheromone (MP) of the female rabbit to assess the influence of stimulus concentration on neonatal pup responsiveness. Th...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Chemical senses 2004-05, Vol.29 (4), p.341-350
Main Authors: Coureaud, Gérard, Langlois, Dominique, Sicard, Gilles, Schaal, Benoist
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Animals
Animals, Newborn
Behavioral psychophysiology
Biological and medical sciences
Chemical Sciences
Dose-Response Relationship, Drug
Feeding Behavior - physiology
Female
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
Hormones and behavior
Mammary Glands, Animal - chemistry
milk
Milk - chemistry
mother–infant relation
olfaction
Olfactory Pathways - growth & development
Olfactory system and olfaction. Gustatory system and gustation
Other
pheromone
Pheromones - chemistry
Pheromones - pharmacology
Pregnancy
Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry
Psychology. Psychophysiology
rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus)
Rabbits
suckling
Vertebrates: nervous system and sense organs
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Summary:The effect of the intensity of odour signals has rarely been investigated in the regulation of odour-guided behaviour in young mammals. This series of experiments used the mammary pheromone (MP) of the female rabbit to assess the influence of stimulus concentration on neonatal pup responsiveness. The MP is a single compound isolated from rabbit milk that releases in pups the typical head searching and oral seizing behaviour. The pups (n = 621) were exposed to graded concentrations of the MP in bioassays varying in stimulus delivery conditions. Experiment 1 demonstrated that in aqueous dilutions the MP efficiently elicits behavioural responses only within a limited range of concentrations (from 2.5 × 10–9 to 2.5 × 10–5 g/ml). Experiment 2 yielded the same outcome with highly purified MP delivered in dynamic conditions with a gas chromatograph. Finally, Experiment 3 used deodorized milk as the solvent of the MP; despite this change in the physico-chemical context of stimulation, similar results were reached.
ISSN:0379-864X
1464-3553
1464-3553
DOI:10.1093/chemse/bjh037