Dataset for: Synchronized Activity in The Main and Accessory Olfactory Bulbs and Vomeronasal Amygdala Elicited by Chemical Signals in Freely Behaving Mice

Résumé

The dataset contains raw and primary data associated to the projects: Señales Vomeronasales Y Control Amigdalino Del Comportamiento Sociosexual: Un Modelo Experimental De La Neurobiologia Del Comportamiento Social Y Sus Alteraciones (BFU2013-47688-P) and Circuitos Neurales De La Atraccion Por Feromonas Sexuales Y La Aversion Por Señales De Enfermedad: Un Estudio Anatomico, Electrofisiologico Y Comportamental (BFU2016-77691-C2-2-P) from the Spanish Ministry of Economy, Industry and Competitiveness. The aim of this research is to investigate the integration of chemosensory information in mice, specifically focusing on the olfactory and vomeronasal systems. We aim to understand how the activity of both circuits is coordinated and integrated during the exploration of various stimuli by freely behaving mice. The study involves recording the electrophysiological activity in the olfactory bulbs and the vomeronasal amygdala in response to neutral and conspecific stimuli and the analysis performed to uncover the neural mechanisms and patterns of activity that mediate the integration of olfactory and vomeronasal information and ultimately influence the behavior of mice, particularly in response to conspecific cues. To investigate the oscillatory pattern of activity in the vomeronasal system, and compare it with that showed by the olfactory system, we have performed recordings of the Local Field Potentials (LFP) in awake, freely behaving mice to which we presented olfactory stimuli (clean bedding or geraniol), or mixed olfactory-vomeronasal stimuli (bedding soiled by females, castrated males or intact males). In each animal, the recording electrodes were located in the main olfactory bulb (MOB) and accessory olfactory bulb (AOB), as well as in the medial amygdala (Me) and posteromedial cortical amygdala (PMCo). These recording sites allow us to characterize the pattern of oscillatory activity in the main centres of the vomeronasal system, and at the same time, to evaluate whether they are different and independent from the sniffing-induced olfactory oscillations present in the MOB. We supply information on the provided metadata, which refer to individual raw files, and details on the specific data formats used. For further explanation please refer to the file DataSet_Overview_OlfVnInt.rtf. This dataset was used in the publications:  Pardo-Bellver, C., Martínez-Bellver, S., Martínez-García, F. et al. Synchronized Activity in The Main and Accessory Olfactory Bulbs and Vomeronasal Amygdala Elicited by Chemical Signals in Freely Behaving Mice. Scientific Reports 7, 9924 (2017). Pardo-Bellver, C., Vila-Martin, M. E., Martínez-Bellver, S. et al. Neural activity patterns in the chemosensory network encoding vomeronasal and olfactory information in mice. Frontiers in Neuroanatomy 16 (2022).