Latest Vomeronasal organ Stories
Study highlights brain changes that may underlie transition from aggressive to parental behavior Sexually naïve male mice respond differently to the chemical signals emitted by newborn pups than males that have mated and lived with pregnant females, according to a study published March 20 in The Journal of Neuroscience. The findings may help scientists to better understand the changes that take place in the brains of some mammals during the transition into parenthood. Sex differences...
[Watch Video: Newborn Mice Depend On Mom's Signature Scent] April Flowers for redOrbit.com - Your Universe Online Sometimes, not finding what you are looking for can lead to even more interesting avenues of research. That is what a recent international research team found out when they were searching for a pheromone trigger for newborn infant suckling responses in mice. The results of their study have been published in the journal, Current Biology. Long-held wisdom has been that...
Stowers scientists make a surprising find in study of sex- and aggression-triggering vomeronasal organ The vomeronasal organ (VNO) is one of evolution's most direct enforcers. From its niche within the nose in most land-based vertebrates, it detects pheromones and triggers corresponding basic-instinct behaviors, from compulsive mating to male-on-male death matches. A new study from the Stowers Institute for Medical Research, published online in Nature Neuroscience on July 29, 2012, extends...
Research from Karolinska Institutet shows that the human olfactory bulb - a structure in the brain that processes sensory input from the nose - differs from that of other mammals in that no new neurons are formed in this area after birth. The discovery, which is published in the scientific journal Neuron, is based on the age-determination of the cells using the carbon-14 method, and might explain why the human sense of smell is normally much worse than that of other animals. "I've never...
A new study has shown that boosting the estrogen levels of male garter snakes causes them to secrete the same pheromones that females use to attract suitors, and turned the males into just about the sexiest snake in the neighborhood – attracting dozens of other males eager to mate. This experiment in the famed garter snake caverns of Manitoba, Canada, was one of the first in a field setting to ever quantify the effects of estrogen as a stimulant of pheromones, scientists said, in...
When it comes to the circuits that make up the olfactory system, it seems that less is more. Much like the addition and elimination of extra synapses that helps fine-tune brain circuitry, the olfactory system continues to produce and remove neurons throughout life. Yet it is not entirely clear how and why some newborn neurons are preserved while others are eliminated. Now, new research published by Cell Press in the September 8 issue of the journal Neuron reveals that both olfactory...
New research, published in the journal Development, by Dr. Anthony-Samuel LaMantia, professor of Pharmacology & Physiology and director of the newly formed GW Institute for Neuroscience, and his colleagues have identified the stem cells that generate three critical classes of nerve cells "“ olfactory receptors (ORNs), vomeronasal (VRNs) and gonadotropin releasing hormone (GnRH) neurons "“ that are responsible for enabling animals and humans, to eat, interact socially and...
The findings provide clues to how our brains workScientists from The Scripps Research Institute have found a specific chemical compound secreted by many predators that makes mice behave fearfully. The research helps scientists better understand animal behavior, and may eventually lead to new insights into how sensory information is processed in human brains.The research was published in the prestigious journal Cell on May 14, 2010."We're interested in how the brain can be hardwired to...
The vomeronasal organ (VNO) is an odor detection system that mediates many pheromone-sensitive behaviors. Vomeronasal sensory neurons (VSNs), located in the VNO, are the initial site of interaction with odors and pheromones. How an individual VSN transduces chemical signals into electrical signals, however, has been a mystery. In the January 2010 issue of the Journal of General Physiology (www.jgp.org), researchers from the University of Vermont show that a Ca 2+ -activated chloride current...
For anyone who has experienced a sudden unexplained rush of feelings, such as sparks upon meeting someone for the first time or impulsive fears when boarding a plane despite being totally at ease with air travel, scientists have a possible explanation.These seemingly illogical and disparate feelings may be reactions to other people's pheromones.Although pheromones are found across the animal world from insects to mammals, research into human pheromones has been hampered by bungling...
