« Previous AbstractPeptide effects on social behavior: effects of vasotocin and isotocin on social approach behavior in male goldfish (Carassius auratus)    Next AbstractRapid sex steroid effects on reproductive responses in male goldfish: Sensory and motor mechanisms »

Proc Biol Sci

Title:		Pheromones enhance somatosensory processing in newt brains through a vasotocin-dependent mechanism
Author(s):		Thompson RR; Dickinson PS; Rose JD; Dakin KA; Civiello GM; Segerdahl A; Bartlett R;
Address:		"Neuroscience Program, Bowdoin College, Brunswick, ME 04011, USA. rthompso@bowdoin.edu"
Journal Title:		Proc Biol Sci
Year:		2008
Volume:		275
Issue:		1643
Page Number:		1685 - 1693
DOI:		10.1098/rspb.2008.0207
ISSN/ISBN:		0962-8452 (Print) 1471-2954 (Electronic) 0962-8452 (Linking)
Abstract:		"We tested whether the sex pheromones that stimulate courtship clasping in male roughskin newts do so, at least in part, by amplifying the somatosensory signals that directly trigger the motor pattern associated with clasping and, if so, whether that amplification is dependent on endogenous vasotocin (VT). Female olfactory stimuli increased the number of action potentials recorded in the medulla of males in response to tactile stimulation of the cloaca, which triggers the clasp motor reflex, as well as to tactile stimulation of the snout and hindlimb. That enhancement was blocked by exposing the medulla to a V1a receptor antagonist before pheromone exposure. However, the antagonist did not affect medullary responses to tactile stimuli in the absence of pheromone exposure, suggesting that pheromones amplify somatosensory signals by inducing endogenous VT release. The ability of VT to couple sensory systems together in response to social stimulation could allow this peptide to induce variable behavioural outcomes, depending on the immediate context of the social interaction and thus on the nature of the associated stimuli that are amplified. If widespread in vertebrates, this mechanism could account for some of the behavioural variability associated with this and related peptides both within and across species"
Keywords:		"Action Potentials/drug effects Animals Antidiuretic Hormone Receptor Antagonists Cloaca/physiology Electrophysiology Female Male Medulla Oblongata/cytology/*metabolism/physiology Neurons, Afferent/drug effects/physiology Physical Stimulation Receptors, Va;"
Notes:		"MedlineThompson, R R Dickinson, P S Rose, J D Dakin, K A Civiello, G M Segerdahl, A Bartlett, R eng Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't England 2008/05/01 Proc Biol Sci. 2008 Jul 22; 275(1643):1685-93. doi: 10.1098/rspb.2008.0207"