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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

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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

  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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