PMID- 17325343
OWN - NLM
STAT- MEDLINE
DCOM- 20070710
LR  - 20071115
IS  - 0379-864X (Print)
IS  - 0379-864X (Linking)
VI  - 32
IP  - 4
DP  - 2007 May
TI  - Firing properties of accessory olfactory bulb mitral/tufted cells in response to 
      urine delivered to the vomeronasal organ of gray short-tailed opossums.
PG  - 355-60
AB  - In comparison with many mammals, there is limited knowledge of the role of 
      pheromones in conspecific communication in the gray short-tailed opossum. Here we 
      report that mitral/tufted (M/T) cells of the accessory olfactory bulb (AOB) of 
      male opossums responded to female urine but not to male urine with two distinct 
      patterns: excitation followed by inhibition or inhibition. Either pattern could 
      be mimicked by application of guanosine 5'-O-3-thiotriphosphate and blocked by 
      guanosine 5'-O-2-thiodiphosphate, indicating that the response of neurons in this 
      pathway is through a G-protein-coupled receptor mechanism. In addition, the 
      inhibitor of phospholipase C (PLC), U73122, significantly blocked urine-induced 
      responses. Male and female urine were ineffective as stimuli for M/T cells in the 
      AOB of female opossums. These results indicate that urine of diestrous females 
      contains a pheromone that directly stimulates vomeronasal neurons through 
      activation of PLC by G-protein-coupled receptor mechanisms and that the response 
      to urine is sexually dimorphic.
FAU - Zhang, Jing-Ji
AU  - Zhang JJ
AD  - Department of Anatomy and Cell Biology, 450 Clarkson Avenue, Brooklyn, NY 11203, 
      USA. jingji.zhang@downstate.edu
FAU - Huang, Guang-Zhe
AU  - Huang GZ
FAU - Halpern, Mimi
AU  - Halpern M
LA  - eng
GR  - DC02745/DC/NIDCD NIH HHS/United States
PT  - Journal Article
PT  - Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural
DEP - 20070226
PL  - England
TA  - Chem Senses
JT  - Chemical senses
JID - 8217190
RN  - 0 (Enzyme Inhibitors)
RN  - 0 (Estrenes)
RN  - 0 (Pyrrolidinones)
RN  - 112648-68-7 
      (1-(6-((3-methoxyestra-1,3,5(10)-trien-17-yl)amino)hexyl)-1H-pyrrole-2,5-dione)
RN  - EC 3.1.4.- (Type C Phospholipases)
SB  - IM
MH  - Animals
MH  - Enzyme Inhibitors/pharmacology
MH  - Estrenes/pharmacology
MH  - Female
MH  - Male
MH  - Microelectrodes
MH  - Olfactory Bulb/*physiology
MH  - Opossums/*physiology
MH  - Pyrrolidinones/pharmacology
MH  - Type C Phospholipases/antagonists & inhibitors
MH  - *Urine
MH  - Vomeronasal Organ/*physiology
EDAT- 2007/02/28 09:00
MHDA- 2007/07/11 09:00
CRDT- 2007/02/28 09:00
PHST- 2007/02/28 09:00 [pubmed]
PHST- 2007/07/11 09:00 [medline]
PHST- 2007/02/28 09:00 [entrez]
AID - bjm005 [pii]
AID - 10.1093/chemse/bjm005 [doi]
PST - ppublish
SO  - Chem Senses. 2007 May;32(4):355-60. doi: 10.1093/chemse/bjm005. Epub 2007 Feb 26.