[Wesleyan University]
   

Wesleyan University Research Findings May Have Human Pheromone Implications

For immediate release: Wednesday, January 12, 2005

(MIDDLETOWN, CT) - A new study co-authored by Robert Lane, assistant professor of molecular biology and biochemistry at Wesleyan University, suggests that human pheromone detection may occur right under our own noses - literally.

In an article due out in the February issue of Genome Research, Lane provided additional evidence that scientists may have overestimated the use of the vomeronasal organ, or VNO, in pheromone perception in animals. The VNO has been described as the predominant pheromone-detecting organ, based mostly on rodent studies that point to its role in evoking innate reproductive and social behaviors.

Lane, along with Wesleyan graduate student Marijo Kambere and his colleagues from the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle, Washington, discovered that one of the main putative pheromone receptor families expressed inside the VNO has been decimated in domesticated dogs. This finding suggests that the VNO may play a diminished role in dogs and perhaps other non-rodent mammals.

"As keen as the dog sense of smell is and as elaborate a pheromonal system dogs seem to have, it could be that the main nose, not the VNO, underlies elaborate pheromonal communication in dogs," says Lane.

If this is true, then the observation that humans probably do not possess a functional VNO may not mean an inability to detect pheromones. "Our apparent lack of a functional VNO," continues Lane, "might not be a handicap if pheromone responses can be mediated by our main olfactory system."

Established in 1831, Wesleyan University is a coeducational, private university of the liberal arts and sciences. It serves approximately 2,700 undergraduates and 150 graduate students and offers a challenging academic environment promoting independent thought and action.

For more information, please contact Laura Perillo at 860-685-3813 or lperillo@wesleyan.edu.