Restricted exposure of mice to primer pheromones coincident with prolactin surges blocks pregnancy by changing hypothalamic dopamine release

Rosser, Anne Elizabeth ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4716-4753, Remfry, C. J. and Keverne, E. B. 1989. Restricted exposure of mice to primer pheromones coincident with prolactin surges blocks pregnancy by changing hypothalamic dopamine release. Reproduction 87 (2) , pp. 553-559. 10.1530/jrf.0.0870553

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Abstract

Exposure of recently mated female mice to strange male urine revealed that exposure for 8 h was sufficient to produce pregnancy block providing exposure is for two 4-h periods coincident with prolactin surges. Exposure for 8 h between prolactin surges or one 4-h exposure coincident with either the nocturnal or the diurnal prolactin surge was without effect. When bromocriptine, a dopamine agonist, was given coincident with the nocturnal and diurnal prolactin surges, it was equally effective, but the opiate antagonist (naltrexone) administered in a similar manner was without effect. This result indicates that pheromonal action is through excitation of the tuberoinfundibular neurones rather than by inhibition of beta-endorphin neurones. Further evidence for dopamine involvement in pregnancy block is demonstrated by showing DOPA accumulation in the medio-basal hypothalamus following exposure to male urinary pheromones after dihydroxybenzylhydrazine (DHBH) administration, which blocks the enzyme DOPA-decarboxylase. Taken together, this series of experiments provides convincing evidence for the dopamine inhibition of prolactin release being the final pathway for pheromone action in the context of pregnancy block.

Item Type:	Article
Date Type:	Publication
Status:	Published
Schools:	MRC Centre for Neuropsychiatric Genetics and Genomics (CNGG) Medicine Neuroscience and Mental Health Research Institute (NMHRI)
Subjects:	R Medicine > R Medicine (General)
Publisher:	BioScientifica
ISSN:	1470-1626
Last Modified:	31 Oct 2022 09:28
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/81134

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