Odours of cancerous mouse congeners: detection and attractiveness

Biology Open

Bruno Buatois¹  Laurent Dormont¹  Flora Gouzerh²  Frédéric Thomas²  Maxime R. Hervé³  Antonio Maraver⁴  Maicol Mancini⁴  Guila Ganem⁵ 

[1] Centre d'ecologie Fonctionnelle et Evolutive, Université de Montpellier, CNRS, EPHE, IRD, Université Paul Valéry Montpellier 3, 34293, Montpellier, France;Centre de Recherches Écologiques et Évolutives sur le Cancer, Maladies Infectieuses et Vecteurs: Ecologie, Genetique, Evolution et Contrôle, UMR IRD 224-CNRS 5290-Université de Montpellier, 34394, Montpellier, France;Institut de Génétique Environnement et Protection des Plantes, INRAE, Institut Agro, Université de Rennes, 35000, Rennes, France;Institut de Recherche en Cancérologie de Montpellier, Inserm U1194-ICM-Université de Montpellier, 34298, Montpellier, France;Institut des Sciences de l'Evolution, Université de Montpellier, CNRS, IRD, 34095, Montpellier, France;

关键词: body odours;    odour discrimination;    female preference;    volatile organic compounds;    lung cancer;    mus musculus domesticus;    egfr oncogenic mutation;   

DOI  :  10.1242/bio.059208

来源: DOAJ

【 摘 要 】

Chemical communication plays a major role in social interactions. Cancer, by inducing changes in body odours, may alter interactions between individuals. In the framework of research targeting non-invasive methods to detect early stages of cancer development, this study asked whether untrained mice could detect odour changes in cancerous congeners. If yes, were they able to detect cancer at an early developmental stage? Did it influence female preference? Did variations in volatile organic components of the odour source paralleled mice behavioural responses? We used transgenic mice strains developing or not lung cancer upon antibiotic ingestion. We sampled soiled bedding of cancerous mice (CC) and not cancerous mice (NC), at three experimental conditions: before (T0), early stage (T2) and late stage (T12) of cancer development. Habituation/generalisation and two-way preference tests were performed where soiled beddings of CC and NC mice were presented to wild-derived mice. The composition and relative concentration of volatile organic components (VOC) in the two stimuli types were analysed. Females did not show directional preference at any of the experimental conditions, suggesting that cancer did not influence their choice behaviour. Males did not discriminate between CC and NC stimuli at T0 but did so at T2 and T12, indicating that wild-derived mice could detect cancer at an early stage of development. Finally, although the VOC bouquet differed between CC and NC it did not seem to parallel the observed behavioural response suggesting that other types of odorant components might be involved in behavioural discrimination between CC and NC mice.

【 授权许可】

Unknown