Researchers have pinpointed a molecule produced by male goats that activates reproduction in females outside of their normal breeding season.
Yukari Takeuchi at the University of Tokyo and her colleagues used a special cap to capture 18 different pheromone molecules emitted from the heads of male goats. They then exposed females to the molecules, and used implanted electrodes to monitor activity in a brain region that regulates reproduction. One molecule, 4-ethyloctanal, triggered the biggest response of all the compounds tested.
This is the first molecule shown to stimulate a key regulator of reproduction in mammals called the gonadotropin releasing hormone pulse generator.
Curr. Biol. http://doi.org/rqv (2014)
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Pheromone turns on goat brains. Nature 507, 11 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1038/507011e
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/507011e