| Title: | "Olfactory sensitivity to the pheromone, androstenone, is sexually dimorphic in the pig" |
| Author(s): | Dorries KM; Adkins-Regan E; Halpern BP; |
| Address: | "Neuroscience Program, Tufts University School of Medicine, Boston, MA 02111, USA" |
| DOI: | 10.1016/0031-9384(94)00225-t |
| ISSN/ISBN: | 0031-9384 (Print) 0031-9384 (Linking) |
| Abstract: | "Sexually dimorphic pheromone pathways have been used successfully to study insect olfactory coding. As one of the few mammalian species with an identified sex pheromone, the domestic pig (Sus scrofa) may be an ideal vertebrate species in which to examine sex differences in olfactory processing of a specific stimulus. In this experiment, androstenone and control odor detection thresholds were measured in adult male, female, and castrated male pigs. In an operant task, pigs were tested with descending concentration series of both androstenone and geraniol. All groups were equally sensitive to geraniol, but there was a sex difference in sensitivity to the odor of androstenone. Female pigs' detection threshold was a dilution fivefold lower than the threshold for intact males. Castrated males did not differ significantly from either males or females. This is the first example of a sexual dimorphism in sensitivity to a mammalian pheromone" |
| Keywords: | "Acyclic Monoterpenes Animals Discrimination Learning/drug effects/physiology Discrimination, Psychological/drug effects/physiology Female Male Orchiectomy Pheromones/*pharmacology Sensory Thresholds/drug effects/physiology *Sex Characteristics Smell/*phys;" |
| Notes: | "MedlineDorries, K M Adkins-Regan, E Halpern, B P eng 1 R03 MH46457-01/MH/NIMH NIH HHS/ Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S. Research Support, U.S. Gov't, P.H.S. 1995/02/01 Physiol Behav. 1995 Feb; 57(2):255-9. doi: 10.1016/0031-9384(94)00225-t" |
