The DOI matches its Crossref record; 30 of the 30 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
Ultrasensitive pheromone detection by mammalian vomeronasal neurons
Abstract
The vomeronasal organ (VNO) is a chemoreceptive organ that is thought to transduce pheromones into electrical responses that regulate sexual, hormonal and reproductive function in mammals. The characteristics of pheromone signal detection by vomeronasal neurons remain unclear. Here we use a mouse VNO slice preparation to show that six putative pheromones evoke excitatory responses in single vomeronasal neurons, leading to action potential generation and elevated calcium entry. The detection threshold for some of these chemicals is remarkably low, near 10(-11) M, placing these neurons among the most sensitive chemodetectors in mammals. Using confocal calcium imaging, we map the epithelial representation of the pheromones to show that each of the ligands activates a unique, nonoverlapping subset of vomeronasal neurons located in apical zones of the epithelium. These neurons show highly selective tuning properties and their tuning curves do not broaden with increasing concentrations of ligand, unlike those of receptor neurons in the main olfactory epithelium. These findings provide a basis for understanding chemical signals that regulate mammalian communication and sexual behaviour.
Overview
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Verification
Claims the paper makes
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
In the citing paper
“Recently, Leinders-Zufall et al. showed physiological responses in mouse VSNs to substances reported to be pheromones in that species (Leinders-Zufall et al., 2000).”
From Human Vomeronasal Organ Function: A Critical Review of Best and Worst Cases (2001) · cites this paper as Leinders-Zufall et al., 2000
Citations
Cites
Combinatorial Receptor Codes for Odors
Malnic, B., Hirono, J., Sato, T., & Buck, L. B. (1999) · Cell · doi:10.1016/s0092-8674(00)80581-4 · Cited by 2,302
MECHANISMS OF OLFACTORY DISCRIMINATION: Converging Evidence for Common Principles Across Phyla
Hildebrand, J. G., & Shepherd, G. M. (1997) · Annual Review of Neuroscience · doi:10.1146/annurev.neuro.20.1.595 · Cited by 1,066
A novel family of genes encoding putative pheromone receptors in mammals
Dulac, C., & Axel, R. (1995) · Cell · doi:10.1016/0092-8674(95)90161-2 · Cited by 1,001
Neurobiology of Taste and Smell
Anholt, R. R. H. (1988) · Trends in Neurosciences · doi:10.1016/0166-2236(88)90170-1 · Cited by 796
The Organization and Function of the Vomeronasal System
Halpern, M. (1987) · Annual Review of Neuroscience · doi:10.1146/annurev.ne.10.030187.001545 · Cited by 732
A Multigene Family Encoding a Diverse Array of Putative Pheromone Receptors in Mammals
Matsunami, H., & Buck, L. B. (1997) · Cell · doi:10.1016/s0092-8674(00)80537-1 · Cited by 706
Herrada, G., & Dulac, C. (1997) · Cell · doi:10.1016/s0092-8674(00)80536-x · Cited by 696
A New Multigene Family of Putative Pheromone Receptors
Ryba, N. J. P., & Tirindelli, R. (1997) · Neuron · doi:10.1016/s0896-6273(00)80946-0 · Cited by 598
Keverne, E. B. (1999) · Science · doi:10.1126/science.286.5440.716 · Cited by 457
Variable patterns of axonal projections of sensory neurons in the mouse vomeronasal system
Rodriguez, I., Feinstein, P., & Mombaerts, P. (1999) · Cell · doi:10.1016/s0092-8674(00)80730-8 · Cited by 402
Neurobiology of Taste and Smell
Finger, T. E., & Silver, W. L. (1991) · Cited by 400
Odor Response Properties of Rat Olfactory Receptor Neurons
Duchamp‐Viret, P., Chaput, M. A., & Duchamp, A. (1999) · Science · doi:10.1126/science.284.5423.2171 · Cited by 303
Berghard, A., & Buck, L. (1996) · Journal of Neuroscience · doi:10.1523/jneurosci.16-03-00909.1996 · Cited by 298
A map of pheromone receptor activation in the mammalian brain
Belluscio, L., Koentges, G., Axel, R., & Dulac, C. (1999) · Cell · doi:10.1016/s0092-8674(00)80731-x · Cited by 293
Jia, C., & Halpern, M. (1996) · Brain Research · doi:10.1016/0006-8993(96)00110-2 · Cited by 267
Molecular recognition and olfactory processing in the mammalian olfactory system
Mori, K., & Yoshihara, Y. (1995) · Progress in Neurobiology · doi:10.1016/0301-0082(94)00058-p · Cited by 247
Promotion of the Whitten effect in female mice by synthetic analogs of male urinary constituents.
Jemioło, B., Harvey, S., & Novotný, M. V. (1986) · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · doi:10.1073/pnas.83.12.4576 · Cited by 222
Novotný, M. V., Ma, W., Wiesler, D. P., & Žı́dek, L. (1999) · Proceedings of the Royal Society B Biological Sciences · doi:10.1098/rspb.1999.0880 · Cited by 219
Self-citationKauer, J. S. (1991) · Trends in Neurosciences · doi:10.1016/0166-2236(91)90025-p · Cited by 207
Adrenal-Mediated Endogenous Metabolites Inhibit Puberty in Female Mice
Novotný, M. V., Jemioło, B., Harvey, S. C., Wiesler, D. P., & Marchlewska-Koj, A. (1986) · Science · doi:10.1126/science.3945805 · Cited by 177
Leinders‐Zufall, T., Rand, M. N., Shepherd, G. M., Greer, C. A., & Zufall, F. (1997) · Journal of Neuroscience · doi:10.1523/jneurosci.17-11-04136.1997 · Cited by 148
Self-citationLeinders‐Zufall, T., Greer, C. A., Shepherd, G. M., & Zufall, F. (1998) · Journal of Neuroscience · doi:10.1523/jneurosci.18-15-05630.1998 · Cited by 145
Self-citationNovotný, M. V., Jemioło, B., Wiesler, D. P., Ma, W., Harvey, S. C., Xu, F., Xie, T. M., & Carmack, M. (1999) · Chemistry & Biology · doi:10.1016/s1074-5521(99)80049-0 · Cited by 129
Self-citationOdorant Response Properties of Convergent Olfactory Receptor Neurons
Bozza, T. C., & Kauer, J. S. (1998) · Journal of Neuroscience · doi:10.1523/jneurosci.18-12-04560.1998 · Cited by 121
Molecular aspects of pheromonal communication via the vomeronasal organ of mammals
Tirindelli, R., Mucignat‐Caretta, C., & Ryba, N. J. P. (1998) · Trends in Neurosciences · doi:10.1016/s0166-2236(98)01274-0 · Cited by 104
Olfactory Receptors, Vomeronasal Receptors, and the Organization of Olfactory Information
Bargmann, C. I. (1997) · Cell · doi:10.1016/s0092-8674(00)80518-8 · Cited by 100
Puberty-affecting synthetic analogs of urinary chemosignals in the house mouse, Mus domesticus
Jemioło, B., Andreolini, F., Xie, T. M., Wiesler, D. P., & Novotný, M. V. (1989) · Physiology & Behavior · doi:10.1016/0031-9384(89)90270-9 · Cited by 83
Novotný, M. V., Schwende, F. J., Wiesler, D. P., Jorgenson, J. W., & Carmack, M. (1984) · Cellular and Molecular Life Sciences · doi:10.1007/bf01963608 · Cited by 73
Odorant-regulated Ca2+ gradients in rat olfactory neurons.
Restrepo, D., Okada, Y., & Teeter, J. H. (1993) · The Journal of General Physiology · doi:10.1085/jgp.102.5.907 · Cited by 69
Inositol-1,4,5-trisphosphate Induces Responses in Receptor Neurons in Rat Vomeronasal Sensory Slices
Inamura, K., Kashiwayanagi, M., & Kurihara, K. (1997) · Chemical Senses · doi:10.1093/chemse/22.1.93 · Cited by 62
Flagged first, then by citations
Cited by
Sorted by citations
How the olfactory system makes sense of scents
Firestein, S. (2001) · Nature · doi:10.1038/35093026 · Cited by 1,261
Cyclic Nucleotide-Gated Ion Channels
Kaupp, U. B., & Seifert, R. (2002) · Physiological Reviews · doi:10.1152/physrev.00008.2002 · Cited by 1,141
Genes and ligands for odorant, vomeronasal and taste receptors
Mombaerts, P. (2004) · Nature reviews. Neuroscience · doi:10.1038/nrn1365 · Cited by 693
Molecular detection of pheromone signals in mammals: from genes to behaviour
Dulac, C. G., & Torello, A. T. (2003) · Nature reviews. Neuroscience · doi:10.1038/nrn1140 · Cited by 662
Structure and function of the vomeronasal system: an update
Halpern, M. (2003) · Progress in Neurobiology · doi:10.1016/s0301-0082(03)00103-5 · Cited by 639
Metadata
- Authors
- Leinders-Zufall, T., Lane, A. P., Puche, A. C., Ma, W., Novotny, M. V., Shipley, M. T., & Zufall, F.
- Affiliations
- University of Maryland, Baltimore (US)
- Indiana University Bloomington (US)
- Corresponding author
- Zufall, Frank
- Venue
- Nature
- Published
- 2000-06-15
- Volume
- 405
- Issue
- 6788
- Pages
- 792-796
- ISSN
- 0028-0836 (ISSN-L)
- 1476-4687
- OpenAlex
- W1544860128
- Cited by
- 576
- References
- 30
- Citations by year
- 2026: 5 · 2025: 9 · 2024: 14 · 2023: 18 · 2022: 7 · 2021: 11 · 2020: 16 · 2019: 27 · 2018: 13 · 2017: 13 · 2016: 21 · 2015: 17 · 2014: 36 · 2013: 22 · 2012: 21
- FWCI
- 15.05
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Nature (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- RePEc: Research Papers in Economics (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- Simons Foundation
- John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation
- National Institutes of Health
- National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders
- 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 organ, vomeronasal sensory neurons, pheromone detection, calcium imaging, action potential generation, olfactory epithelium, sexual behavior
- MeSH terms
- Animals, Calcium, Electrophysiology, Female, Ligands, Male, Pheromones, Signal Transduction, Olfactory Receptor Neurons, Microscopy, Confocal, Vomeronasal Organ, Mice
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review
