Citronellal Ingestion Decreases the Appeal of Male Mouse Urinary Pheromone for Female Mice

• Published in: Bioscience, biotechnology, and biochemistry Vol. 76; no. 9; pp. 1781 - 1784
• Main Authors: OSADA, Kazumi, HANAWA, Masaaki, TSUNODA, Kenji, IZUMI, Hiroshi
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Tokyo Japan Society for Bioscience, Biotechnology, and Agrochemistry 2012; Japan Society for Bioscience Biotechnology and Agrochemistry; Oxford University Press
• Subjects: Aldehydes - administration & dosage; Animals; Biological and medical sciences; Biotechnology; Citronellal; Eating; Female; female attraction; Females; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Ingestion; Male; Males; Mating Preference, Animal - drug effects; Mating Preference, Animal - physiology; Mice; Monoterpenes - administration & dosage; mouse urine; odor masking; Odorants; Odors; Olfactory Perception - drug effects; Olfactory Perception - physiology; pheromone; Pheromones - urine; Sexual Maturation; Urine; Urine; Vertebrata; Mammalia; female attraction; Mouse; mouse urine; Rodentia; Female; Pheromone; odor masking; Odor; citronellal
• ISSN: 0916-8451; 1347-6947
• DOI: 10.1271/bbb.120180

To determine whether ingestion of citronellal decreases the attractive power of the male mouse urinary odor, female mice were used in preference tests. A series of tests revealed that the female mice preferred voided urine odors from aged mice over those from younger adult mice. However, exogenous citronellal directly inhibited the advantage of the aged males with regard to attraction.