Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Analysis of Male Aggressive and Sexual Behavior in Mice

  • Protocol
  • First Online:
Pheromone Signaling

Part of the book series: Methods in Molecular Biology ((MIMB,volume 1068))

Abstract

Pheromone and odor signals play a pivotal role in male mouse reproductive behaviors, such as sexual and aggressive behavior. There are several methods used to assess male behaviors, each of which examines a unique aspect of the biological function of mice. There are two major ways of assessing male aggressive behavior in mice, one is using isolation-induced aggression, and the other is territorial aggression in pair-housed males. To analyze male sexual behavior, a female mouse that is hormone-primed with estradiol and progesterone is usually introduced into a male home range, and mounting, intromission, and ejaculation behaviors are observed for 1 h. Here, we summarize the detailed protocols for assessing male behaviors.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Protocol
USD 49.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 89.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 119.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 169.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

References

  1. Mugford RA, Nowell NW (1970) Pheromones and their effect on aggression in mice. Nature 524:967–968

    Article  Google Scholar 

  2. Scott JP (1966) Agonistic behavior of mice and rats: a review. Am Zool 6:683–701

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  3. Nyby J, Wysocki CJ, Whitney G, Dizinno G (1977) Pheromonal regulation of male mouse ultrasonic courtship (Mus musculus). Anim Behav 2:333–341

    Article  Google Scholar 

  4. Holy TE, Guo Z (2005) Ultrasonic songs of male mice. PLoS Biol 1:e386

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. Scott J (1942) Genetic differences in the social behavior of inbred strains of mice. J Hered 33:11–15

    Google Scholar 

  6. Crawley JN, Belknap JK, Collins A, Crabbe JC, Frankel W, Henderson N, Hitzemann RJ, Maxson SC, Miner LL, Silva AJ et al (1997) Behavioral phenotypes of inbred mouse strains: implications and recommendations for molecular studies. Psychopharmacology (Berl) 132:107–124

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  7. Simon NG (1979) The genetics of intermale aggressive behavior in mice: recent research and alternative strategies. Neurosci Biobehav Rev 2:97–106

    Article  Google Scholar 

  8. Jones SE, Brain PF (1987) Performances of inbred and outbred laboratory mice in putative tests of aggression. Behav Genet 1:87–96

    Article  Google Scholar 

  9. Selmanoff MK, Abreu E, Goldman BD, Ginsburg BE (1977) Manipulation of aggressive behavior in adult DBA/2/Bg and C57BL/10/Bg male mice implanted with testosterone in Silastic tubing. Horm Behav 3:377–390

    Article  Google Scholar 

  10. Maxson SC, Canastar A (2003) Conceptual and methodological issues in the genetics of mouse agonistic behavior. Horm Behav 3:258–262

    Article  Google Scholar 

  11. Abramov U, Puussaar T, Raud S, Kurrikoff K, Vasar E (2008) Behavioural differences between C57BL/6 and 129S6/SvEv strains are reinforced by environmental enrichment. Neurosci Lett 3:223–227

    Article  Google Scholar 

  12. Shrenker P, Maxson SC (1983) The genetics of hormonal influences on male sexual behavior of mice and rats. Neurosci Biobehav Rev 3:349–359

    Article  Google Scholar 

  13. Brain PF, Benton D, Childs G, Parmigiani S (1981) The effect of the type of opponent in tests of murine aggression. Behav Processes 4:319–327

    Article  Google Scholar 

  14. Novotny M, Harvey S, Jemiolo B, Alberts J (1985) Synthetic pheromones that promote inter-male aggression in mice. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 82:2059–2061

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  15. Ropartz P (1968) The relation between olfactory stimulation and aggressive behaviour in mice. Anim Behav 1:97–100

    Article  Google Scholar 

  16. Rowe FA, Edwards DA (1971) Olfactory bulb removal: influences on the aggressive behaviors of male mice. Physiol Behav 6:889–892

    Article  Google Scholar 

  17. Brodkin ES, Goforth SA, Keene AH, Fossella JA, Silver LM (2002) Identification of quantitative trait Loci that affect aggressive behavior in mice. J Neurosci 3:1165–1170

    Google Scholar 

  18. Miczek KA, O’Donnell JM (1978) Intruder-evoked aggression in isolated and nonisolated mice: effects of psychomotor stimulants and L-dopa. Psychopharmacology (Berl) 57:47–55

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  19. Goldsmith JF, Brain PF, Benton D (1976) Effects of age at differential housing and the duration of individual housing/grouping on lntermale fighting behavior and adrenocortical activity in TO strain mice. Aggressive Behav 4:307–323

    Article  Google Scholar 

  20. Valzelli L (1973) The “isolation syndrome” in mice. Psychopharmacologia 31:305–320

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  21. Sato T, Matsumoto T, Kawano H, Watanabe T, Uematsu Y, Sekine K, Fukuda T, Aihara K, Krust A, Yamada T (2004) Brain masculinization requires androgen receptor function. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 6:1673

    Article  Google Scholar 

  22. Kippin TE, Pfaus JG (2001) The nature of the conditioned response mediating olfactory conditioned ejaculatory preference in the male rat. Behav Brain Res 1:11–24

    Article  Google Scholar 

  23. Burns-Cusato M, Scordalakes EM, Rissman EF (2004) Of mice and missing data: what we know (and need to learn) about male sexual behavior. Physiol Behav 2:217–232

    Article  Google Scholar 

  24. De Vries GJ, Rissman EF, Simerly RB, Yang LY, Scordalakes EM, Auger CJ, Swain A, Lovell-Badge R, Burgoyne PS, Arnold AP (2002) A model system for study of sex chromosome effects on sexually dimorphic neural and behavioral traits. J Neurosci 20:9005–9014

    Google Scholar 

  25. McGill TE, Manning A (1976) Genotype and retention of the ejaculatory reflex in castrated male mice. Anim Behav 3:507–518

    Article  Google Scholar 

  26. Green EL (1975) Biology of the laboratory mouse. Dover Publications, New York, NY

    Google Scholar 

  27. Pomerantz SM, Nunez AA, Bean NJ (1983) Female behavior is affected by male ultrasonic vocalizations in house mice. Physiol Behav 1:91–96

    Article  Google Scholar 

  28. Wolff RJ (1985) Mating behaviour and female choice: their relation to social structure in wild caught House mice (Mus musculus) housed in a semi‐natural environment. J Zool 1:43–51

    Google Scholar 

  29. Ginsburg B, Allee W (1942) Some effects of conditioning on social dominance and subordination in inbred strains of mice. Physiol Zool 15:484–506

    Google Scholar 

  30. Brain P, McAllister KH, Walmsley S (1989) Drug effects on social behavior. Neuromethods 13:687–739

    Google Scholar 

  31. Kletzkin M (1969) An experimental analysis of aggressive-defensive behaviour in mice. In: Garattini S, Sigg EB (eds) Aggressive behavior. Wiley, New York, NY, pp 253–262

    Google Scholar 

  32. Nakamura K, Kikusui T, Takeuchi Y, Mori Y (2007) The critical role of familiar urine odor in diminishing territorial aggression toward a castrated intruder in mice. Physiol Behav 2–3:512–517

    Article  Google Scholar 

  33. Nakamura K, Kikusui T, Takeuchi Y, Mori Y (2008) Influences of pre- and postnatal early life environments on the inhibitory properties of familiar urine odors in male mouse aggression. Chem Senses 6:541–551

    Article  Google Scholar 

  34. Kikusui T, Nakanishi K, Nakagawa R, Nagasawa M, Mogi K, Okanoya K (2011) Cross fostering experiments suggest that mice songs are innate. PLoS One 3:e17721

    Article  Google Scholar 

  35. Haga S, Hattori T, Sato T, Sato K, Matsuda S, Kobayakawa R, Sakano H, Yoshihara Y, Kikusui T, Touhara K (2010) The male mouse pheromone ESP1 enhances female sexual receptive behaviour through a specific vomeronasal receptor. Nature 7302:118

    Article  Google Scholar 

  36. Mendl M, Paul E (1991) Litter composition affects parental care, offspring growth and the development of aggressive behaviour in wild house mice. Behaviour 116:90–108

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Veterinary Medical Sciences, Azabu University, Sagamihara, Japan

    Takefumi Kikusui

Authors
  1. Takefumi Kikusui
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Dept. of Applied Biological Chemistry, The University of Tokyo School of Agricultural & Life Sciences, Tokyo, Japan

    Kazushige Touhara

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2013 Springer Science+Business Media, LLC

About this protocol

Cite this protocol

Kikusui, T. (2013). Analysis of Male Aggressive and Sexual Behavior in Mice. In: Touhara, K. (eds) Pheromone Signaling. Methods in Molecular Biology, vol 1068. Humana Press, Totowa, NJ. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-62703-619-1_23

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-62703-619-1_23

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Humana Press, Totowa, NJ

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-62703-618-4

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-62703-619-1

  • eBook Packages: Springer Protocols

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation