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Something in the Air? New Insights into Mammalian Pheromones
Open accessAbstract
Olfaction is the dominant sensory modality for most animals and chemosensory communication is particularly well developed in many mammals. Our understanding of this form of communication has grown rapidly over the last ten years since the identification of the first olfactory receptor genes. The subsequent cloning of genes for rodent vomeronasal receptors, which are important in pheromone detection, has revealed an unexpected diversity of around 250 receptors belonging to two structurally different classes. This review will focus on the chemical nature of mammalian pheromones and the complementary roles of the main olfactory system and vomeronasal system in mediating pheromonal responses. Recent studies using genetically modified mice and electrophysiological recordings have highlighted the complexities of chemosensory communication via the vomeronasal system and the role of this system in handling information about sex and genetic identity. Although the vomeronasal organ is often regarded as only a pheromone detector, evidence is emerging that suggests it might respond to a much broader variety of chemosignals.
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“It is the first site where signals from the olfactory bulb and vomeronasal system converge, thus positioning the MeA to recognize, analyze, and categorize incoming chemosensory information 11 .”
From Ucn3 and CRF-R2 in the medial amygdala regulate complex social dynamics (2016) · cites this paper as [11]
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Metadata
- Authors
- Brennan, P. A., & Keverne, E. B.
- Affiliations
- University of Cambridge (GB)
- ORCID
- Brennan, Peter A.
- Venue
- Current Biology
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2004-01
- Volume
- 14
- Issue
- 2
- Pages
- R81-R89
- ISSN
- 0960-9822 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W2110523906
- Semantic Scholar
- e0cc580358f9277e8f24797630d7e7ff00834142
- Cited by
- 236
- References
- 77
- Citations by year
- 2026: 2 · 2025: 3 · 2024: 9 · 2023: 4 · 2022: 5 · 2021: 1 · 2020: 5 · 2019: 8 · 2018: 11 · 2017: 5 · 2016: 6 · 2015: 7 · 2014: 11 · 2013: 7 · 2012: 19
- FWCI
- 2.52
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Licence
- www.elsevier.com/tdm/userlicense/1.0/ (tdm)
- www.elsevier.com/legal/tdmrep-license (tdm)
- www.elsevier.com/open-access/userlicense/1.0/ (vor, 3485 d)
- doi.org/10.15223/policy-017 (stm-asf)
- doi.org/10.15223/policy-037 (stm-asf)
- doi.org/10.15223/policy-012 (stm-asf)
- doi.org/10.15223/policy-029 (stm-asf)
- doi.org/10.15223/policy-004 (stm-asf)
- Locations
- Current Biology (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- Medical Research Council
- Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Sensory Systems › Olfactory and Sensory Function Studies
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Sensory Systems › Ion Channels and Receptors
- Health Sciences › Nursing › Nutrition and Dietetics › Biochemical Analysis and Sensing Techniques
- Keywords
- vomeronasal system, vomeronasal receptors, olfactory receptors, chemosensory communication, vomeronasal organ, sex pheromone, genetic identity, chemosignals, olfactory system
- MeSH terms
- Afferent Pathways, Animals, Animal Communication, Chemoreceptor Cells, Mammals, Olfactory Bulb, Pheromones, Sex Factors, Smell, Vomeronasal Organ
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