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IMAGE: Certain neurons in the brains of female mice change their structure across the reproductive cycle, gaining higher complexity during the receptive phase.
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Credit: Champalimaud Centre for the Unknown - Lima Lab (data); Diogo Matias (design).
In many species, including humans and mice, the fluctuating levels of the hormones progesterone and estrogen determine whether the female is fertile or not. And in the case of mice, whether she's sexually receptive or not.
The change in receptivity is striking. Female mice shift from accepting sexual partners to aggressively rejecting them across a cycle of six short days. How can the female reproductive hormones bring about such a radical behavioural change?