Discrimination of olfactory sexual cues in staggerer mutant male mice

Generally, staggerer male mice do not express any preference between oestro us and anoestrous female odours in a choice test situation. The staggerer a bility to discriminate between these olfactory sexual cues was evaluated in an habituation-dishabituation paradigm. In this situation it was found tha t the staggerer mice discriminate between these two odours. The lack of sex ual odour preference in staggerer male mice is discussed through hormonal a nd neurological interpretation. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science Inc.