Fig. 5: Conversion of the unassociated odor valence from neutral to aversion by local injection of an OxR1 antagonist into the amOT.

a, b Odor-guided behavior of mice during test days 1–3. a Digging behavior at the odor location. b Digging behavior outside the odor location. Digging time within four 2 min-trials of vehicle-injected mice (white columns) and antagonist-injected mice (black columns). c–e Odor-guided behavior of food-restricted mice under the bedding-free condition. c Odor-investigating time within 2 min of vehicle-injected mice (white column) and antagonist-injected mice (black column). d Occurrence of odor-retraction within 2 min of two groups of mice. e Ratio of residence times on the odor side (zone 1) versus the opposite side (zone 2) of two groups of mice. f–h Odor-guided behavior of ad libitum-fed mice under the bedding-free condition. f Odor-investigating time within 2 min of vehicle-injected mice (white column) and antagonist-injected mice (black column). g Occurrence of odor-retraction within 2 min of two groups of mice. h Ratio of residence times on the odor side (zone 1) versus the opposite side (zone 2) of two groups of mice. Average ± SD, each dot represents one mouse (n = 5 for both groups of mice). ns, not significant; *p < 0.05; ***p < 0.001 (t-test).