Puberty acceleration

Kaneko N., Debski E.A., Wilson M.C. and Whitten W.K. (1980). Puberty acceleration in mice II, Evidence that the vomeronasal organ is a receptor for the primer pheromone in male mouse urine. Biol Reprod 22, 873-878. 

Nishimura K., Utsumi K., Yuhara M., Fujitani Y., et al. (1989). Identification of puberty-accelerating pheromones in male mouse urine. J Exp Zool 251, 300-305. 

Novotny M., Ma W., Zidek L. and Daev E. (1999). Recent biochemical insights into puberty acceleration, estrus induction, and puberty delay in the house mouse. In Advances in Chemical Signals in Vertebrates (Johnston R.L., Miiller-Schwarze D. and Sorenson P., eds.), pp. 99-116. 

Novotny M., Ma W., Wiesler D. and Zidek L. (1999). Positive identification of the puberty-accelerating pheromone of the house mouse the volatile ligands associating with the major urinary protein. Proc Roy Soc Lond (B) 266, 2017-2022. 

The VNO is extremely important in mediating endocrine responses to primer pheromones. Puberty acceleration in female rats by male urine odors can be prevented by electrolytic damage to the vomeronasal nerve. Also, effects of male urine odor such as shortening of the estrus cycle (see Ch. 8) can be eliminated by section of the vomeronasal nerve, or bilateral electrocoagulation of the accessory olfactory bulb (Sanchez-Criado, 1982). In rats, the odor of males stimulates ovulation in females, an effect that is lost if the VNO is extirpated (Johns etal., 1978). Female prairie voles, M. ochrogaster, respond to odors from males with reproductive activation. Surgical removal of the VNO from adult females impedes this reproductive activation by the stud male. The weights of the uterus and the ovaries of these females were lower than those of normal or sham-operated individuals. However, the females without a VNO were still able to locate food by chemical cues (Lepri and Wysocki, 1987). 

Puberty acceleration has also been found in a marsupial. The odor left behind in a cage by a male can accelerate the time of first estrus in a female gray, shorttailed opossum, Monodelphis domestica, from 161 to 126 days of age (Stonerook and Harder, 1989). 

Coppola, D. M. and O Connell, R. J. (1988). Behavioral responses of peripubertal female mice towards puberty-accelerating and puberty-delaying chemical signals. Chemical Senses 13,407-424. 

Vandenbergh, J. G., Finlayson, J. S., Dobrogosz, W. J., Dills, S. S., and Kost, T. A. (1976). Chromatographic separation of puberty accelerating pheromone from male mouse... 

RECENT BIOCHEMICAL INSIGHTS INTO PUBERTY ACCELERATION, ESTRUS INDUCTION, AND PUBERTY DELAY IN THE HOUSE MOUSE... 

Puberty Acceleration, Estrus Induction, and Puberty Delay in the House Mouse... 

The notion that MUP is a carrier of the ligated pheromones rather than the active pheromone itself has been further supported through preparation of a recombinant MUP (Zidek, Stone, et al, 1998) in B. coli. The recombinant MUP, devoid of volatile ligands but structurally and functionally identical with a major protein of the natural MUP, showed no puberty acceleration activity. Likewise, the hexapeptide, claimed by Mucignat-Caretta et al. (Mucignat-Caretta, et al., 1995) to have biological activity, was found inactive in our experiments (Novotny, Ma, Wiesler Zidek, 1998). 

Based on our recent investigations, the following scenario (Novotny, Ma, et al., 1998) concerning male primer pheromones appears plausible (1) under the control of testosterone, normal males produce the more lipophilic famesenes to be excreted into the urine via the preputial gland, while the more polar SBT, DHB and 6-hydroxy-6-methyl-3-heptanone are contained in the bladder urine (2) all pheromones that have now been implicated in estms induction and puberty acceleration are volatile ligands that bind... 

Novotny, M.V., Jemiolo, B., Wiesler, D., Ma, W., Harvey, S., Xu, F., Xie, T.M. Carmack, M. 1998. A unique urinary constituent, 6-hydroxy-6-methyl-3-heptanone, has the puberty accelerating pheromone activity in mice. Chemistry and Biology, submitted. 

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