Figure 6.
Mice show behavioral habituation to LC-stimulation-paired urine. A, Behavioral habituation testing paradigm. Mice were exposed to two urine samples under anesthesia, and one was paired to LC electrical stimulation. The mice were placed 24 h later in a Y-maze containing both urine samples, and investigation time was measured for both stimuli. B–E, Behavioral data. B, C, Mean absolute investigation time is compared between stimuli for control and stimulated (stim.) mice, quantified as direct sniffing (B) or dwelling (C). Bars show mean and SEM (paired t test, *p < 0.05, **p < 0.001). D, E, A normalized measure of bias is shown for control and stimulated mice, calculated from direct sniffing (D) or dwelling (E). Lines show median values (bias significantly different from 1, Wilcoxon signed rank test, *p < 0.05). The design was balanced for the urine stimuli used, and subjects showed no systematic preference for any of the three strains contributing urine (supplemental Fig. 5, available at www.jneurosci.org as supplemental material).