Predator cat odors activate sexual arousal pathways in brains of toxoplasma gondii infected rats

• Main Authors: House, Patrick K., Vyas, Ajai, Sapolsky, Robert M.
• Other Authors: School of Biological Sciences
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: 2012
• Subjects: DRNTU::Science::Biological sciences::Microbiology
• Online Access: https://hdl.handle.net/10356/93918; http://hdl.handle.net/10220/7479
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

Cat odors induce rapid, innate and stereotyped defensive behaviors in rats at first exposure, a presumed response to the evolutionary pressures of predation. Bizarrely, rats infected with the brain parasite Toxoplasma gondii approach the cat odors they typically avoid. Since the protozoan Toxoplasma...