Skip Navigation



Chemical Senses Advance Access published online on June 16, 2005
Chemical Senses, doi:10.1093/chemse/bji043
This Article
Right arrow FREE Full Text (PDF) Freely available
Right arrow All Versions of this Article:
30/6/505    most recent
bji043v1
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My Personal Archive
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Right arrow Disclaimer
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Laska, M.
Right arrow Articles by Salazar, L. T. H.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Laska, M.
Right arrow Articles by Salazar, L. T. H.
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us  
What's this?

© The Author 2005. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oupjournals.org
Accepted May 20, 2005

Article

Olfactory Responsiveness to Two Odorous Steroids in Three Species of Nonhuman Primates

Matthias Laska 1*, Alexandra Wieser 1, and Laura Teresa Hernandez Salazar 2

1 Department of Medical Psychology, University of Munich, Munich, Germany
2 Instituto de Neuro-Etologia, Universidad Veracruzana, Xalapa, Mexico

* To whom correspondence should be addressed.
Matthias Laska, E-mail: Matthias.Laska{at}med.uni-muenchen.de


  Abstract

Social communication by means of odor signals is widespread among mammals. In pigs, for example, the C19-steroids 5-{alpha}-androst-16-en-3-one and 5-{alpha}-androst-16-en-3-ol are secreted by the boar and induce the mating stance in the sow. In humans, the same substances have been shown to be compounds of body odor and are presumed to affect human behavior. Using an instrumental conditioning paradigm, we here show that squirrel monkeys, spider monkeys and pigtail macaques are able to detect androstenone at concentrations in the micromolar range and thus at concentrations at least as low as those reported in pigs and humans. All three species of nonhuman primates were considerably less sensitive to androstenol, which was detected at concentrations in the millimolar range. Additional tests, using a habituation-dishabituation paradigm, showed that none of the 10 animals tested per species was anosmic to the two odorous steroids. These results suggest that androstenone and androstenol may be involved in olfactory communication in the primate species tested and that the specific anosmia to these odorants found in ~30% of human subjects may be due to their reduced number of functional olfactory receptor genes compared with nonhuman primates.

Keywords: androstenol; androstenone; nonhuman primates; olfactory detection thresholds; specific anosmia.
Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us    What's this?


This article has been cited by other articles:


Home page
 J. Exp. Biol.Home page
M. Laska, R. M. R. Bautista, D. Hofelmann, V. Sterlemann, and L. T. H. Salazar
Olfactory sensitivity for putrefaction-associated thiols and indols in three species of non-human primate
J. Exp. Biol., December 1, 2007; 210(23): 4169 - 4178.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 J. Pharmacol. Exp. Ther.Home page
R. M. Kaminski, H. Marini, P. I. Ortinski, S. Vicini, and M. A. Rogawski
The Pheromone Androstenol (5{alpha}-Androst-16-en-3{alpha}-ol) Is a Neurosteroid Positive Modulator of GABAA Receptors
J. Pharmacol. Exp. Ther., May 1, 2006; 317(2): 694 - 703.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]


Disclaimer: Please note that abstracts for content published before 1996 were created through digital scanning and may therefore not exactly replicate the text of the original print issues. All efforts have been made to ensure accuracy, but the Publisher will not be held responsible for any remaining inaccuracies. If you require any further clarification, please contact our Customer Services Department.