Stud of the receptive and processing system to newt pheromones

2016 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 26440179
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Animal physiology/Animal behavior
• Research Institution: Nara Medical University
• Principal Investigator: Toyoda Fumiyo 奈良県立医科大学, 医学部, 准教授 (10244708)
• Co-Investigator(Renkei-kenkyūsha): HASUNUMA Itaru 東邦大学, 理学部, 講師 (40434261) ; NAKADA Tomoaki 日本獣医生命科学大学, 獣医学部, 講師 (50549566)
• Project Period (FY): 2014-04-01 – 2017-03-31
• Keywords: フェロモン / アカハライモリ / プロラクチン / 性ステロイド

Outline of Final Research Achievements

Sodefrin, a male newt pheromone elevates Ca2+ in the female vomeronasal cells.　The elevation of Ca2+in response to sodefrin is sex- and hormone (i.e. prolactin and estradiol）-dependent. Two steroidal substances, pregnenolone and androstenedione excreted from the male abdominal gland were revealed to exert a female-attracting activity and a considerable electro-olfactogram response in the vomeronasal epithelium in the sexually developed females, synergistically with sodefrin. We found that a tripeptide is secreted by the ciliary cells in the epithelium of the proximal portion of the oviduct of sexually developed males and confirmed that this is the major active substance in water in which sexually developed female newts have been kept. This substance only attracted sexually developed male newts and acted by stimulating the vomeronasal epithelial cells. This is the first female sexual attractiveness peptide pheromone to be identified in a vertebrate.

Free Research Field

神経生理学