MECHANISMS OF OLFACTORY COMMUNICATION

特殊的气味腺体和其他生物来源的气味广泛存在 在动物王国里。来自这些来源的嗅觉刺激可以诱导 特定的行为和神经内分泌反应。的各个组件 特定的行为序列可能取决于不同的个体 单一天然气味混合物中的化合物。它们还可能取决于 仅在可用感官装置的一部分(即，主或 辅助嗅觉系统)。腺体来源的天然气味和 对它们的行为反应通常受内源性激素的调节。 水平，在某些情况下还受环境变量的影响。有几个 关于嗅觉机制的广泛问题需要回答 哺乳动物之间的交流包括：(1)哪些化合物是 在天然气味中起作用？(2)天然气味如何激活主体和 副嗅觉器官？(3)有没有特殊的激活方式 行为上重要的气味，如信息素或(4)，都是气味 以相同的方式对待，而不考虑它们的导入？(5)一旦系统 是否有不同的编码机制在 针对特定气味类别的选定解剖区域？(6)什么是 嗅主、副系统的功能神经解剖学研究 尤其是那些与信息素感知有关的区域？(7) 嗅觉和其他感觉信号的相对贡献是什么？ 在调节交配和其他自然行为方面？和(8)身体状况如何？ 不同的化学感觉系统相互协调，最终形成一个复合体 嗅觉引导的行为，比如交配？仓鼠将是主要的 模型，因为它有公认的天然气味来源，几个 它们的部分化学特征是。它有特殊的气味 标记这些气味的沉积行为并易于测量 对他们感知的行为反应，所有这些都在 内源激素的控制。化学、解剖学、行为学和 生理学技术将在主要的适当水平上使用 以及附属制度，以回答上述及相关问题 关于嗅觉交流。

Specific scent glands and other biological sources of odors are widespread in the animal kingdom. Olfactory stimuli from these sources elicit specific behavioral and neuroendocrine responses. Individual components of a particular behavioral sequence may depend upon different individual compounds within a single melange of natural odors. They may also depend upon only a portion of the available sensory apparatus (i.e. the main or accessory olfactory system). The glandular sources of natural odors and the behavioral responses to them are often modulated by endogenous hormone levels and in some cases by environmental variables. There are several broad questions to be answered about the mechanisms of olfactory communication in mammals including: (1) Which chemical compounds are active in natural scents? (2) How do natural scents activate the main and accessory olfactory organs? (3) Are there special modes of activation for behaviorally important odors like pheromones or (4) Are all odorants treated in the same way regardless of their import? (5) Once the system has been activated, are there distinct coding mechanisms which operate in selected anatomical regions for particular classes of odors? (6) What is the functional neuroanatomy of the main and accessory olfactory systems especially those areas concerned with the perception of pheromones? (7) What are the relative contributions of olfactory and other sensory signals in modulating mating and other natural behaviors? and (8) How are the various chemosensory systems coordinated to eventuate in a complex olfactory guided behavior such as mating? The hamster will be the primary model because it has well recognized sources of natural scents, several of which are partially characterized chemically. It has specific scent marking behaviors for the deposition of these scents and easily measured behavioral responses to their perception, all of which are under the control of endogenous hormones. Chemical, anatomical, behavioral and physiological techniques will be utilized at appropriate levels of the main and accessory systems in order to answer the above and related questions about olfactory communication.