Fig. 4

IEG induction, expansion of neural progenitors, and regulation of TH. a, b c-Fos and Egr-1 gene induction in the VNO after exposure to alien male bedding for 30 min. Control (ctrl) mice remained in their own cage, ‘iso’ and ‘con’ refers to exposure to soiled bedding from isogenic or congenic mice, respectively. Data is shown with SD, n = 3 for all groups except Mras ^−/− exposed to ‘iso’, n = 5, and Mras ^−/− exposed to ‘con’, n = 4; no significant effect of genotype for either IEG. c, d The average number of NS generated (c) and average NS sizes (d) at varying concentrations of EGF were similar for WT and Mras ^−/− neural progenitors. There were no significant differences between WT and Mras ^−/− samples; n = 4 for experiments in c, n = 5 for experiments in d, error bars represent SD. e Stimulation of PRLR-1 or PRLR-2 with prolactin resulted in weak activation of M-Ras but with different kinetics; n = 5 for PRLR-1 samples (except t = 15 min, n = 4); n = 6 for PRLR-2 samples; error bars represent SEM. f Prolactin did not affect the number of NS generated (n = 4, error bars represent SD). g Prolactin slightly stimulated the proliferation of WT or Mras ^−/− neural progenitors (estimated by NS size) to similar levels; n = 184 WT ctrl, n = 198 WT + PRL, n = 127 Mras ^−/− ctrl, n = 123 Mras ^−/− + PRL; data shown with SEM. h Tyrosine hydroxylase (TH) gene expression in the olfactory bulbs of mated and plugged females (dpc: days post coitum). Data is shown with SD, n = 4 for all groups except Mras ^−/− 1.5 dpc where n = 3; no significant effect of genotype