| Male CD-1 mice between postnatal days 60 and 90 were injected intraperitoneally (i.p) with either water vehicle (controls) or 50;All groups showed a significant decline in screen investigation time between the first and second trials, an indication of habituation to the overall testing environment. Group CSS demonstrated a progressive decrease in screen investigation time with the least investigation time occurring on trial 4. Group CSN demonstrated a similar pattern of diminishing screen investigation time over the first three trials, but stopped diminishing on the fourth trial when a new stimulus animal was placed in the cage. Animals from the DSN group did not demonstrate a quantitative change in screen investigating time at all. Screen investigation time of the D0-N group decreased progressively over the first three trials but increased sharply on trial 4 to trial 1 levels.;These results suggest that animals from the CSN group could distinguish between the odors of a familiar and novel animal while those from the DSN group could not. Thus DSP-4 treatment may have impaired the ability of the animals to recognize the odors of a familiar versus an unfamiliar conspecific. This failure of recognition was not due to anosmia since animals from the D0-N group habituated to the testing environment showed a strong dishabituation response when exposed to a novel animal. In addition, on an olfactory preference test, all groups showed a preference for a familiar botanical odor (hardwood) over a nonfamiliar one (pine). Taken together, these results suggest that central NE is a modulator of intermale social olfaction. |
