Access
To read this story in full you will need to login or make a payment (see right).
News and Views
Nature 439, 149-151 (12 January 2006) | doi:10.1038/439149a; Published online 11 January 2006
Open Innovation Challenges
-
Direct Molecular Detection of Proteins and Nucleic Acids
This Challenge is looking for novel approaches to protein and nucleic acid detection. This is an Id...
-
Methods of Modeling Adaptation in Populations
The analysis of adaptation with a population is a frequently encountered computational modeling scen...
- More Challenges
- Powered by:
nature jobs
PhD or Postdoctoral Fellow: DFT Calculations in Materials Science
- KAUST (King Abdullah University of Science and Technology)
- Saudi Arabia
Faculty Position in Chromosome and Cell Cycle Research
- OMRF
- Oklahoma City, OK 73104, United States
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
To read this story in full you will need to login or make a payment (see right).
MORE ARTICLES LIKE THIS
These links to content published by NPG are automatically generated.
NEWS AND VIEWS
Odor here, odor there: chemosensation and reproductive functionNature Neuroscience News and Views (01 Dec 2005)
Human pheromones Communication through body odourNature News and Views (12 Mar 1998)
See all 7 matches for News And ViewsRESEARCH
Detection of polyomaviruses and herpesviruses in human adrenal tumorsOncogene Scientific Correspondence
Increased dopamine after mating impairs olfaction and prevents odor interference with pregnancyNature Neuroscience Article (01 Aug 2008)
See all 19 matches for Research