IDENTITY AND NEURAL ENCODING OF SOCIAL ODORS

社会气味的身份和神经编码

• 批准号: 9288148
• 负责人: Timothy Holy
• 金额: $ 32.41万
• 依托单位: WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 财政年份: 2009
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2009-09-30 至 2021-06-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9288148
• 关键词: Acceleration; Accessory Olfactory Bulbs; Adolescent; Adult; Afferent Neurons; Age; Aggressive behavior; Animals; Behavior; Behavioral; Charge; Chemical Structure; Code; Collaborations; Cues; Data; Detection; Deuterium; Endocrine; Esthesia; Family; Female; Health; Hormonal; Hormones; Hydrogen; Individual; Infant; Informatics; Investigation; Laboratories; Ligands; Mammals; Mass Spectrum Analysis; Methods; Molecular; Molecular Weight; Moods; Mus; Neurons; Neurosecretory Systems; Odors; Organ; Partner in relationship; Pathway interactions; Pattern; Perception; Pheromone; Physiological; Physiology; Pregnancy; Puberty; Regulation; Reproduction; Reproductive Behavior; Resolution; Sampling; Sensory; Sex Attractants; Sex Functioning; Signal Transduction; Smell Perception; Source; Spontaneous abortion; Steroids; Stimulus; Structure; Study models; Techniques; Ultrasonics; Uncertainty; United States National Institutes of Health; Urine; Weight; base; behavioral study; experience; feeding; gonad function; insight; male; neurophysiology; relating to nervous system; response; scaffold; sex; social; tandem mass spectrometry; tool; urinary; vomeronasal organ

Abstract “Social odors”―sometimes called “pheromones”―are key regulators of infant feeding, reproduction, and aggression. Once detected by the sense of smell, these signals act to modulate the animal's hormonal status. Conversely, steroid metabolites in urine have emerged as one of the best-understood classes of cues detected by the vomeronasal organ, one of the principal sensory organs for pheromones. This tight integration between hormones and olfaction is believed to serve as an “honest signal” in which information about physiological status is inferred from metabolites of the hormones that control it. In mammals, the identity of most pheromones remains mysterious. In mice, despite 40 years of investigation, the principal sex-specific vomeronasal cues in natural stimuli like urine were controversial or unknown. Recently, my laboratory developed new techniques to perform large scale unbiased screens for the ligands that activate vomeronasal sensory neurons. Using these tools and combining them with neurophysiology, endocrine manipulations, and analysis of behavior, we have identified the first female sex pheromones for the mouse. With support from the NIH, we propose to identify most or all of the male-specific urinary cues that activate the vomeronasal organ. Specifically, we propose to (1) purify male-specific ligands; (2) solve their chemical structures, and (3) identify their pattern of expression and contributions to two behaviors, the Vandenbergh Effect (puberty acceleration) and the Bruce Effect (pregnancy block). These aims promise to open new doors in our understanding of the relationship between sex, olfaction, hormones, and behavior.

摘要