Encoding social signals in the mouse main olfactory bulb
Encoding social signals in the mouse main olfactory bulb
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DOI：
10.1038/nature03414
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发表时间：
2005-03-24
期刊：
影响因子：
64.8
通讯作者：
Katz, LC
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Lin, DY;Zhang, SZ;Katz, LC
哺乳动物的尿液释放出复杂的挥发性化合物混合物，用于生殖，领土和同种识别。为了了解这种复杂的混合物是如何在主要的嗅球中表现出来的，我们分析了单个二尖瓣细胞对小鼠尿液中挥发性化合物的电生理反应。在男性和女性中，尿液挥发性化合物在一小部分二尖瓣细胞中引起强烈反应。使用气相色谱法对挥发性化合物进行分级显示，在存在的数百种化合物中，二尖瓣细胞被单一化合物激活。一组二尖瓣细胞只对男性尿液有反应;这些神经元被（甲硫基）甲硫醇激活，这是一种仅存在于男性尿液中的强效、以前未知的化学信息素。当添加到尿液中时，合成（甲硫基）甲硫醇显著增强尿液对雌性小鼠的吸引力。我们的结论是，二尖瓣细胞代表自然气味刺激作为选择性功能检测器，它们的激活在很大程度上是独立的嗅觉刺激中的其他组件的存在。
Mammalian urine releases complex mixtures of volatile compounds that are used in reproduction, territoriality and conspecific recognition. To understand how such complex mixtures are represented in the main olfactory bulb, we analysed the electrophysiological responses of individual mitral cells to volatile compounds in mouse urine. In both males and females, urine volatile compounds evoke robust responses in a small subset of mitral cells. Fractionation of the volatile compounds using gas chromatography showed that out of the hundreds of compounds present, mitral cells are activated by single compounds. One cohort of mitral cells responded exclusively to male urine; these neurons were activated by ( methylthio) methanethiol, a potent, previously unknown semiochemical present only in male urine. When added to urine, synthetic ( methylthio) methanethiol significantly enhances urine attractiveness to female mice. We conclude that mitral cells represent natural odorant stimuli by acting as selective feature detectors, and that their activation is largely independent of the presence of other components in the olfactory stimulus.