The influence of the major histocompatibility complex, gut bacteria and diet in the production of odours of individuality in rodents.
| dc.contributor.author | Schellinck, Heather Macintosh. | en_US |
| dc.contributor.degree | Ph.D. | en_US |
| dc.date.accessioned | 2014-10-21T12:37:01Z | |
| dc.date.available | 1995 | |
| dc.date.issued | 1995 | en_US |
| dc.description | Individual animals can be identified by their unique urine odours. To determine the influence of genetic, microbiological and dietary factors in producing urinary odours of individuality in rodents, a series of experiments was conducted using two different paradigms: a habituation-dishabituation task and a go/no go operant task. Results revealed that rats and mice with genetic differences at the major histocompatibility complex have urine odours which can be discriminated by conspecifics. The presence of gut bacteria influences the production of these urine odours. The removal of different types of bacteria changes the nature of the urine odour; however, the specific nature of the odour-producing bacteria could not be determined. Rats did not respond to probes of urine odours from conspecifics whose bacteria had been selectively depleted even though further testing in a discrimination task revealed that some aspects of these odours were familiar. Mice on different diets produce urine odours which are easier for rats to discriminate than urine odours from mice of different MHC genotypes. The discrimination of urine odours from MHC congenic rats is disrupted by changes in diet whereas the discrimination of urine odours from rats on the same diet is not disrupted when the urine odours are changed to those from rats of a different MHC congenic strain. These results indicate that odours of individuality are multidimensional, involving genetic, dietary and bacterial factors. When different dietary cues are available, they may be more influential than genetic factors in providing discriminable odour cues. | en_US |
| dc.description | Thesis (Ph.D.)--Dalhousie University (Canada), 1995. | en_US |
| dc.identifier.other | AAINN05302 | en_US |
| dc.identifier.uri | http://hdl.handle.net/10222/55070 | |
| dc.language | eng | en_US |
| dc.publisher | Dalhousie University | en_US |
| dc.publisher | en_US | |
| dc.subject | Biology, Animal Physiology. | en_US |
| dc.subject | Psychology, Experimental. | en_US |
| dc.title | The influence of the major histocompatibility complex, gut bacteria and diet in the production of odours of individuality in rodents. | en_US |
| dc.type | text | en_US |
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