Behavioural response of sexually naïve and experienced male rats to the smell of 6-methyl-5-hepten-2-one and female rat faeces.

Sexually experienced male rats display penile erections when exposed to faeces from mammalian females in oestrus (Rampin et al., Behav Brain Res, 172:169, 2006), suggesting that specific odours indicate female receptiveness across species. However, it is unknown to what extent the sexual response observed results from an odorous conditioning acquired during sexual experience.

Brain processing of biologically relevant odors in the awake rat, as revealed by manganese-enhanced MRI.

Background: So far, an overall view of olfactory structures activated by natural biologically relevant odors in the awake rat is not available. Manganese-enhanced MRI (MEMRI) is appropriate for this purpose. While MEMRI has been used for anatomical labeling of olfactory pathways, functional imaging analyses have not yet been performed beyond the olfactory bulb.

Electrophysiological responses of rat olfactory tubercle neurons to biologically relevant odours.

Biologically relevant odours were used to stimulate olfactory tubercle neurons in anaesthetized male rats. Among 120 recorded neurons, 118 showed spontaneous activity (mean firing rate, 15.0 ± 1.

Effects of manganese injected into rat nostrils: implications for in vivo functional study of olfaction using MEMRI.

Manganese-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging (MEMRI) is a powerful tool for visualizing neuronal pathways and mapping brain activity modulation. A potential drawback of MEMRI lies in the toxic effects of manganese (Mn), which also depend on its administration route. The aim of this study was to analyze the effects of Mn doses injected into the nostrils of rats on both olfactory perception and MRI contrast enhancement.

Iterative algorithm for spatial and intensity normalization of MEMRI images. Application to tract-tracing of rat olfactory pathways.

Manganese (Mn)-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging (MEMRI) is an emerging technique for visualizing neuronal pathways and mapping brain activity modulation in animal models. Spatial and intensity normalizations of MEMRI images acquired from different subjects are crucial steps as they can influence the results of groupwise analysis. However, no commonly accepted procedure has yet emerged.