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Nature 439, 149-151 (12 January 2006) | doi:10.1038/439149a; Published online 11 January 2006
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Behaviour: Smells, brains and hormones
Gordon M. Shepherd1
Abstract
Contrary to the traditional view, the main olfactory pathway can mediate responses to pheromones as well as to common odours. Recent studies show that pheromone-activated hormonal systems extend widely within the brain.
Pheromones are powerful species-specific chemical signals that organize a wide range of the social conduct of animals, such as mating behaviour, social dominance, aggression, and bonding of a mother with her young. A common belief is that in mammals pheromones are detected only by a specialized sensor in the nose known as the vomeronasal organ, and that the main olfactory epithelium, which lines the nasal cavity, is responsible only for sensing common odours (Fig. 1
- Gordon M. Shepherd is in the Department of Neurobiology, Yale University School of Medicine, 333 Cedar Street, New Haven, Connecticut 06510, USA.
Email: gordon.shepherd@yale.edu
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