Extended Data Fig. 3: Investigation of LPS females induces neural activity in the COApm of males.

a–c, These data are associated with Fig. 1h–o. a, Representative image of GCaMP6s expression in the COApm. Scale bar, 300 μm. b, Individual traces of COApm bulk fluorescence signal during interactions with a PBS or LPS female. c, Heat map of normalized COApm responses to PBS or LPS females. Each row represents a single investigation event. Investigation events were pooled from 6 mice from 3 independent experiments. Time = 0 indicates initiation of investigation. d, e, Virus encoding GCaMP6s (AAV₁-Syn-GCaMP6s) was targeted to the COApm for fibre photometry recordings. Male mice were sequentially presented with an oestrus or dioestrus female in counterbalanced sessions. Representative traces of COApm bulk fluorescence signal (d) and the mean z-score of the fluorescence during direct investigation of the oestrus or dioestrus female (e) (oestrus, n = 5 and dioestrus, n = 5; from 3 independent experiments). f–j, Male mounting behaviours towards an oestrus or dioestrus, healthy female. Percentage of male mounting (f), mounting time (g), number of mounts (h), latency to mount (i) and percentage of female partners with mating plugs (j) (oestrus, n = 6 and dioestrus, n = 6; from 2 independent experiments). j, *P < 0.05 calculated by chi-square test of independence. Data are mean ± s.e.m. P values are described in the Supplementary Statistical Information.