Michael J. Baum

Research

My research concerns mechanisms controlling the perinatal sexual differentiation and adult activation of neural circuits that control courtship behaviors in mice. I am especially interested in studying the interaction between the main and accessory olfactory nervous systems in the control of mate recognition and sexual motivation in mice of both sexes. Techniques that I use include brain immunocytochemistry to localize neuronal immediate-early gene products, steroid hormone receptors and several neuropeptides; in situ hybridization autoradiography to localize and quantify mRNAs for pheromone receptors in the vomeronasal organ; the quantitative analysis of appetitive and consummatory mating behaviors as well as operant methods for assessing animals’ ability to detect pheromones as well as their sexual partner preferences; brain infusions of neurotoxins, tract tracers and neuropeptides to study the olfactory mechanisms controlling sociosexual behaviors; and new optogenetic as well as DREADD methods for selectively activating or silencing main vs accessory bulb neurons thought to convey pheromonal information to the forebrain.

Collaborators

1. Prof. James A. Cherry,  Dept. of Psychological & Brain Sciences, Boston University

Selected Publications

• DiBenedictis, B.T., Olugbemi, A.O., Baum, M.J. and Cherry, J.A. DREADD-induced silencing of the medial olfactory tubercle disrupts the preference of female mice for opposite-sex chemosignals. eNeuro, September 2015, 2(5) e0078-15.2015: 1-16.
• Korzan WJ, Freamat M, Johnson AG, Cherry JA, Baum MJ (2013) Either main or accessory olfactory system signaling can mediate the rewarding effects of estrous female chemosignals in sexually naïve male mice. Behavioral Neuroscience 127(5): 755-62.
• Brock O, Baum MJ, Bakker J (2011) The development of female sexual behavior requires prepubertal estradiol. Journal of Neuroscience, 31: 5574-5578.
• Martel KL, Baum, MJ (2009) Adult testosterone treatment but not surgical disruption of vomeronasal function augments male-typical sexual behavior in female mice. Journal of Neuroscience, 29: 7658-7666.
• Kang N, Baum MJ, Cherry JA (2009) A direct main olfactory bulb projection to the ‘vomeronasal’ amygdala in female mice selectively responds to volatile pheromones from males. European Journal of Neuroscience, 29: 624-634.
• Martel KL, Baum MJ (2007) Sexually dimorphic activation of the accessory, but not the main, olfactory bulb in mice by urinary volatiles. European Journal of Neuroscience, 26: 463-475.
• Alekseyenko OV, Baum MJ, Cherry JA (2006) Sex and gonadal steroid modulation of pheromone receptor gene expression in the mouse vomeronasal organ. Neuroscience, 140: 1349-1357.
• Baum MJ (2006) Mammalian animal models of psychosexual differentiation: When is ‘translation’ to the human situation possible? Hormones and Behavior, 50: 579-588.

Courses Taught:

• BI 545 Neurobiology of motivated behavior
• BI 230 Behavioral endocrinology