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Nature

Title:		Sex-specific peptides from exocrine glands stimulate mouse vomeronasal sensory neurons
Author(s):		Kimoto H; Haga S; Sato K; Touhara K;
Address:		"Department of Integrated Biosciences, Graduate School of Frontier Sciences, The University of Tokyo, Chiba 277-8562, Japan"
Journal Title:		Nature
Year:		2005
Volume:		437
Issue:		7060
Page Number:		898 - 901
DOI:		10.1038/nature04033
ISSN/ISBN:		1476-4687 (Electronic) 0028-0836 (Linking)
Abstract:		"In mammals, social and reproductive behaviours are modulated by pheromones, which are chemical signals that convey information about sex and strain. The vomeronasal organ, located at the base of the nasal septum, is responsible for mediating pheromone information in mice. Two classes of putative pheromone receptor gene families, V1R and V2R, are expressed by vomeronasal sensory neurons in mutually segregated epithelial zones of the vomeronasal organ. Although numerous studies have suggested that pheromones originate from urine, direct recordings of behaving mice have shown that neuronal firing in the vomeronasal system is modulated by physical contact with the facial area. Here we identify a male-specific 7-kDa peptide secreted from the extraorbital lacrimal gland. This peptide, which we named exocrine gland-secreting peptide 1 (ESP1), is encoded by a gene from a previously unrecognized large family clustered in proximity to the class I major histocompatibility complex (MHC) region. ESP1 is secreted from the eyes and is transferred to the female vomeronasal organ, where it stimulates V2R-expressing vomeronasal sensory neurons and elicits an electrical response. Our results indicate that mice respond to sex-specific peptides released from exocrine glands through the vomeronasal system during direct contact"
Keywords:		"Amino Acid Sequence Animals Electrophysiology Exocrine Glands/*physiology Female Lacrimal Apparatus/*metabolism Male Mice Mice, Inbred BALB C Mice, Inbred C57BL Mice, Inbred ICR Molecular Sequence Data Neurons, Afferent/*physiology Peptides/chemistry/gene;"
Notes:		"MedlineKimoto, Hiroko Haga, Sachiko Sato, Koji Touhara, Kazushige eng Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't England 2005/10/07 Nature. 2005 Oct 6; 437(7060):898-901. doi: 10.1038/nature04033"