嚙齒類動物的社會行為是由信息素驅動的,，后者向其他個體發(fā)出有關年齡,、性別和生理信息的信號。在這項研究中,，Stephen Liberles及同事識別出了由在性成熟前的幼鼠產(chǎn)生的一種新型信息素(ESP22),。ESP22是通過眼淚釋放的，激發(fā)“梨鼻器”中的神經(jīng)元,，抑制成年雄性針對任何表達這種信號的動物的交配行為,。 因此，ESP22似乎是性不成熟的一個標志,，幫助控制成年小鼠的性行為,。（生物谷Bioon.com）
生物谷推薦的英文摘要
Nature doi:10.1038/nature12579
A juvenile mouse pheromone inhibits sexual behaviour through the vomeronasal system
David M. Ferrero,Lisa M. Moeller,Takuya Osakada,Nao Horio,Qian Li,Dheeraj S. Roy,Annika Cichy,Marc Spehr,Kazushige Touhara& Stephen D. Liberles
Animals display a repertoire of different social behaviours. Appropriate behavioural responses depend on sensory input received during social interactions. In mice, social behaviour is driven by pheromones, chemical signals that encode information related to age, sex and physiological state1. However, although mice show different social behaviours towards adults, juveniles and neonates, sensory cues that enable specific recognition of juvenile mice are unknown. Here we describe a juvenile pheromone produced by young mice before puberty, termed exocrine-gland secreting peptide 22 (ESP22). ESP22 is secreted from the lacrimal gland and released into tears of 2- to 3-week-old mice. Upon detection, ESP22 activates high-affinity sensory neurons in the vomeronasal organ, and downstream limbic neurons in the medial amygdala. Recombinant ESP22, painted on mice, exerts a powerful inhibitory effect on adult male mating behaviour, which is abolished in knockout mice lacking TRPC2, a key signalling component of the vomeronasal organ2, 3. Furthermore, knockout of TRPC2 or loss of ESP22 production results in increased sexual behaviour of adult males towards juveniles, and sexual responses towards ESP22-deficient juveniles are suppressed by ESP22 painting. Thus, we describe a pheromone of sexually immature mice that controls an innate social behaviour, a response pathway through the accessory olfactory system and a new role for vomeronasal organ signalling in inhibiting sexual behaviour towards young. These findings provide a molecular framework for understanding how a sensory system can regulate behaviour.
