| Title: | Chemical and behavioural characterization of the rabbit mammary pheromone |
| Author(s): | Schaal B; Coureaud G; Langlois D; Ginies C; Semon E; Perrier G; |
| Address: | "Centre Europeen des Sciences du Gout, CNRS (fre 2328), 21000 Dijon, France. schaal@cesg.cnrs.fr" |
| ISSN/ISBN: | 1476-4687 (Electronic) 0028-0836 (Linking) |
| Abstract: | "Mammals owe part of their evolutionary success to the harmonious exchanges of information, energy and immunity between females and their offspring. This functional reciprocity is vital for the survival and normal development of infants, and for the inclusive fitness of parents. It is best seen in the intense exchanges taking place around the mother's offering of, and the infant's quest for, milk. All mammalian females have evolved behavioural and sensory methods of stimulating and guiding their inexperienced newborns to their mammae, whereas newborns have coevolved means to respond to them efficiently. Among these cues, maternal odours have repeatedly been shown to be involved, but the chemical identity and pheromonal nature of these cues have not been definitively characterized until now. Here we focus on the nature of an odour signal emitted by the female rabbit to which newborn pups respond by attraction and oral grasping, and provide a complete chemical and behavioural description of a pheromone of mammary origin in a mammalian species" |
| Keywords: | "Animals Animals, Newborn/*physiology Animals, Suckling/*physiology Chromatography, Gas Female Gases/analysis/chemistry Mammary Glands, Animal/*chemistry Milk/*chemistry Nipples/chemistry Odorants/analysis Pheromones/analysis/*chemistry/*physiology Phyloge;" |
| Notes: | "MedlineSchaal, Benoist Coureaud, Gerard Langlois, Dominique Ginies, Christian Semon, Etienne Perrier, Guy eng Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't England 2003/07/04 Nature. 2003 Jul 3; 424(6944):68-72. doi: 10.1038/nature01739" |
