BioProject

Hypothalamic gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) neurons are central regulators of fertility and integrate endogenous hormonal status with environmental cues to ensure reproductive success. More...

Hypothalamic gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) neurons are central regulators of fertility and integrate endogenous hormonal status with environmental cues to ensure reproductive success. Here, we found that extra-hypothalamic GnRH neurons in the olfactory bulb of adult mice and humans (GnRHOB) can mediate social recognition. We show that GnRHOB neurons extend neurites into the vomeronasal organ and olfactory epithelium and project to the hypothalamic median eminence. We demonstrate that male GnRHOB neurons express vomeronasal and olfactory receptors, are activated by female odors in vivo, and mediate gonadotropin release in response to female urine. We find that male preference for female odors is enhanced upon chemogenetic activation of GnRHOB neurons and is impaired after genetic inhibition or ablation of these cells and relies on GnRH signaling in the posterodorsal medial amygdala. Taken together, these results establish GnRHOB neurons as a central regulatory hub regulating fertility, sex recognition, and mating in males. Overall design: The olfactory bulbs of 18 weeks old male C57Bl/6N mice were microdissected and immediately frozen in liquid nitrogen. Two biological replicates were analyzed, and each replicate comprised three olfactory bulbs. Singlet olfactory bulb nuclei were isolated by fluorescent-activated cells sorting through the presence of DAPI and subjected to 10x snRNA-Sequencing. Less...