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Abstract
Across several species, females are known to have olfactory abilities superior to males. Human studies have shown that women have lower olfactory thresholds and are better at odor discrimination and identification relative to men. Studies in mice reveal that odor-elicited spatiotemporal activation of olfactory sensory neurons is higher in females than males. The differences are likely brought about by circulating sex hormones. Glomerular odor activation patterns of gonadectomized females and control males are similar, and activation maps of gonadectomized males are similar to that of control females. Our study explores sex differences in olfaction from an oscillatory perspective. Olfactory bulb (OB) local field potentials (LFPs) represent the coordinated activity of bulbar neurons. Olfactory gamma (40-110 Hz) and beta (15- 30 Hz) oscillations have been characterized with respect to their circuits and functions. Spontaneous and odor-evoked OB LFPs were recorded from awake rats at the same time for 12 days. Odors used included urine of both sexes and monomolecular odorants characterized previously for correlation of volatility with behavior and OB oscillations. Sampling duration, spectral composition, and gamma and beta power ratios were analyzed. We report that sniff duration in females is shorter relative to males. Females also show lower gamma and beta power ratios relative to males.