Chemical signals ‘selected for’ newborns in mammals

Schaal, Benoı̂st; Aïn, Syrina Al

doi:10.1016/j.anbehav.2014.08.022

Cited by 27 publications

(28 citation statements)

References 120 publications

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“…Instead, suckling is one behaviour in mammals where smell is known to be ubiquitously important [93]. The secretion produced by lactating human mothers from areola (Montgomery's) skin glands around their nipple may contain a good candidate human pheromone [93][94][95]. The glands combine sebaceous and milk glands.…”

Section: (D) Methods For Narrowing Down the Candidate Molecules For Bmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This bioassay opens up the possibility of finding the stimulus molecule(s) common to all human mothers' areola secretions. Identifying and synthesizing this pheromone could be medically important as the healthy survival of newborns depends crucially on successful suckling in the hours just after birth [93,94]. As a study focus, newborns have the advantage that their behaviour is the least complicated by learning and cultural differences.…”

Section: (D) Methods For Narrowing Down the Candidate Molecules For Bmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…(a) Funding for research into human olfaction and pheromones is a low priority applied drug facilitating prompt initiation of suckling by newborn babies (crucial for their healthy survival, [93]). If reproductive effects of human pheromones were to be found, such as the controversial phenomenon of menstrual synchrony (above), then this could provide leads for new concepts in contraceptive drugs, for example.…”

Section: (D) Methods For Narrowing Down the Candidate Molecules For Bmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The search for human pheromones: the lost decades and the necessity of returning to first principles

2015

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As humans are mammals, it is possible, perhaps even probable, that we have pheromones. However, there is no robust bioassay-led evidence for the widely published claims that four steroid molecules are human pheromones: androstenone, androstenol, androstadienone and estratetraenol. In the absence of sound reasons to test the molecules, positive results in studies need to be treated with scepticism as these are highly likely to be false positives. Common problems include small sample sizes, an overestimate of effect size (as no effect can be expected), positive publication bias and lack of replication. Instead, if we are to find human pheromones, we need to treat ourselves as if we were a newly discovered mammal, and use the rigorous methods already proven successful in pheromone research on other species. Establishing a pheromone relies on demonstration of an odour-mediated behavioural or physiological response, identification and synthesis of the bioactive molecule(s), followed by bioassay confirmation of activity. Likely sources include our sebaceous glands. Comparison of secretions from adult and pre-pubertal humans may highlight potential molecules involved in sexual behaviour. One of the most promising human pheromone leads is a nipple secretion from the areola glands produced by all lactating mothers, which stimulates suckling by any baby not just their own.

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Section: (D) Methods For Narrowing Down the Candidate Molecules For Bmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: (D) Methods For Narrowing Down the Candidate Molecules For Bmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: (D) Methods For Narrowing Down the Candidate Molecules For Bmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The search for human pheromones: the lost decades and the necessity of returning to first principles

2015

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“…These consequences of odour signals emitted from the mammary gland for neonatal learning and milk intake remain to be explored in other species. To date, some results hint at the existence of mammary chemosignals in other mammals (Schaal, 2014;Schaal & Al Aïn, 2014;Wyatt, 2015). However, as the pheromone concept is a specific suite of phenomena, the demonstration and designation as 'pheromone' of such chemosignals requires chemical isolation and systematic testing of the properties of potential candidate components against those of milk or mammary secretions.…”

Section: Mp-induced Odour Learning Favours Neonatal Sucking Performancementioning

confidence: 99%

Mammary pheromone-induced odour learning influences sucking behaviour and milk intake in the newborn rabbit

2016

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Newborn rabbits, Oryctolagus cuniculus, locate their mother's nipples through typical orocephalic movements elicited by odour stimuli, in particular by the mammary pheromone (MP). The MP also promotes neonatal odour learning: after single pairing with the MP, an initially neutral odorant becomes able to elicit sucking-related head-searching/oral-grasping movements. However, the behavioural significance of the MP-induced odour learning remains poorly understood. We carried out three experiments to explore its influence on milk intake and compare its consequences with those resulting from nursing-induced conditioning. First, pups conditioned to an odorant by pairing with the MP on postnatal days 2-3 were shown to gain more milk on day 4 during nursing by a female carrying the conditioned odorant along the nipple lines. Second, surprisingly, nursing-induced odour learning failed to induce this effect. We therefore determined whether the location of the conditioned odorant on or around the nipples modified the pups' milk intake: it appeared that after nursing-induced conditioning, the pups gained more milk when the conditioned odorant was applied directly on the nipples. Moreover, several results showed that pups could learn different odorants during successive days of conditioning, and that the more recently acquired cue was the most influential on milk intake. This study suggests that the MP plays a critical role to ensure sucking performance in newborn rabbits, not only through its releasing effect, but also through its ability to promote the acquisition of novel odours carried by the mother. (C) 2015 The Association for the Study of Animal Behaviour

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“…[7][8][9] Karlson and Butenendt s 3 and Law and Rengier s 4 article were limited to pheromones. However, today it is also well established that pheromones and other semiochemicals (or small molecules, as Meinwald 7 called them) are found in microorganisms [10][11][12][13][14][15][16] , amphibinas [17][18][19][20][21] , spiders [22][23][24][25][26][27][28] , birds [29][30][31][32][33] , marine organisms [34][35][36][37][38][39][40][41] , non-human mammals [42][43][44][45][46] , and humans. [47][48][49][50][51][52][53] According to Verpoorte 54 there are some 250,000 of such 'natural products' and some 4,000 new ones are reported ev...…”

Section: Chemical Ecologymentioning

confidence: 99%

Research with Chemistry and Pharmacology of Natural Products in Brazil: A Comparison with 70 Selected Countries from 5 Continents

Alves¹,

Pontes²

2017

Rev. Virtual Quim.

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Living organisms (bacteria, fungi, lichens, algae, worms, mushrooms, higher plants, and aquatic and terrestrial animals) produce a plethora of chemical compounds, the natural products , that lie at the heart of an ecological interaction, acting as molecular messengers in defense, attack, sexual attraction, territorial and trail marking, in pollination, as venoms, etc. Eventually, human beings make use of them for their own purposes as food additives, flavoring, cosmetics, fragrances, hallucinogens, in pest control, and as therapeutic agents. The present review compares the participation of Brazilian scientists in the chemistry and pharmacology of natural products with that of other scientists from 69 countries in five continents in 36 selected journals. It also shows the analogy between the Human Development Index (HDI) and the rank of the countries with the number published articles. The search was performed in the Web of Knowledge by cross-selecting the names of each journal with that of each country for the period 1945-2013.Keywords: Brazil; chemistry of natural products; pharmacology of natural products; peer journals. ResumoOrganismos vivos (bactérias, fungos, liquens, vermes, cogumelos, vegetais superiores, e animais aquáticos e terrestres) produzem uma pletora de substâncias químicas, os produtos naturais , que estão no coração de uma interação ecológica, atuando como mensageiros moleculares na defesa, ataque, atração sexual, marcação territorial e de trilha, na polinização, como venenos, etc. Eventualmente, os seres humanos fazem uso deles para o seu próprio benefício como aditivos, flavorizantes, cosméticos, fragrância, alucinógenos, no controle de pestes, e como agentes terapêuticos. Esta revisão compara a participação de cientistas brasileiros na química e farmacologia de produtos naturais com a de cientistas de 69 países de cinco continentes em 36 periódicos selecionados. Ela também mostra a analogia entre o Índice de Desenvolvimento Humano (IDH) e a classificação dos países com o número de artigos publicados. A pesquisa foi realizada na Web of Knowledge através de seleção cruzada do nome de cada periódico com o de cada país no período 1945-2013.Palavras-chave: Brasil; química de produtos naturais; farmacologia de produtos naturais; periódicos.

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Chemical signals ‘selected for’ newborns in mammals

Cited by 27 publications

References 120 publications

The search for human pheromones: the lost decades and the necessity of returning to first principles

The search for human pheromones: the lost decades and the necessity of returning to first principles

Mammary pheromone-induced odour learning influences sucking behaviour and milk intake in the newborn rabbit

Research with Chemistry and Pharmacology of Natural Products in Brazil: A Comparison with 70 Selected Countries from 5 Continents

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