Failure of familiar males to prevent alien male-induced implantation block (the Bruce effect) in laboratory mice.

Implantation failure in newly inseminated females induced by exposure to alien males (the Bruce effect) was significantly reduced when the females were housed with the stud male. By contrast, newly inseminated females housed with a familiar male during exposure to alien males exhibited a high rate of implantation failure. The results suggest that the protective effect of the stud male on implantation is not because of the familiarity of the female with his odour cues. The results are consistent with the view that the newly inseminated female mouse identifies her coital partner as an individual because she becomes 'imprinted' with his odour during the pericopulatory period.