Relationship between Preference for Opposite-sex Odour and Morphology of the Principal Nucleus of the Bed Nucleus of the Stria Terminalis

• Main Author: Charchuk, Derek
• Other Authors: Holmes, Melissa M.
• Language: en_ca
• Published: 2011
• Subjects: principal nucleus of bed nucleus of stria terminalis; olfactory preferences; 0349
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/1807/30535

The principal nucleus of the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis (BNSTp) is an integral component of the mouse accessory olfactory system, and plays a key role in pheromonal processing. In males, this region is not only larger and contains more neurons than in females, but the cells are also larger. The present study examined the relationship between preference for opposite-sex odour and regional volume, cell number and cell size within the BNSTp of both male and female mice. No correlations were found between olfactory preferences and any of the three morphological BNSTp parameters. However, the olfactory preference task results were not congruent with previous research. Therefore, it remains inconclusive whether relationships exist between olfactory preference behaviour and morphology of the BNSTp.