Status reproductive

Anderson DW, Cahill TMJ, Suchanek TH, Elbert RA. 1997. Relationships between mercury and yearly trends in osprey production and reproductive status at Clear Lake. In First Annual Clear Lake Science and Management Symposium, September 13, 1997, Proceedings, p. 66-70. 

Washabaugh K. and Snowdon C.T. (1998). Chemical communication of reproductive status in female Cotton-Top Tamarins (Saguinus oedipus oedipus). Am J Primatol 45, 337-349. 

Larsson, P., L. Okla, and L. Collvin. 1993. Reproductive status and lipid content as factors in PCB, DDT, and HCH contamination of a population of pike (Esox lucius L.). Environ. Toxicol. Chem. 12 855-861. 

Doty, R.L. (1977) A review of recent psychophysical studies examining the possibility of chemical communication of sex and reproductive status in humans. In Muller-Schwarz D and Mozell, M.M., Chemical Signals in Vertebrates. Plenum, New York, pp. 273-286. 

Abstract Human body odour is individually specific and several lines of evidence suggest that to some extent it is under genetic control. There are however numerous other sources of variation, commonly labelled as environmental factors, which are the main aim of this paper. These include 1) reproductive status, 2) emotional state, 3) diet and 4) diseases. We primarily focus on axillary and genital odours as they have been proposed to have communicative function. We prelusively conclude that a specific diet and some diseases have major impact on variations in human body odour. 

Axillary odour might not be the only olfactory cue to women s reproductive status. Due to the cyclic fluctuations in composition of vaginal secretion one may expect similar changes in vaginal odour. This was demonstrated thirty years ago by Doty, Ford, Preti and Huggins (1975). However, as we have suggested previously, we believe that due to bipedality the axillary odour is of higher importance in humans (Havlicek et al. 2006). 

Olfaction is of primary importance for social recognition in mammals, including mice. Thus mice use odors to distinguish sex, social or reproductive status of conspecifics (Brennan and Zufall 2006 Brown 1979). In addition, odors have been shown to facilitate the display of sexual behavior (e.g. Thompson and Edwards 1972) and to induce neuroendocrine responses (e.g. pregnancy block in female mice Brennan and Keverne 1997). 

Our study follows on from the study by Heise-Pavlov et al. (2005) and focuses on the chemical composition of the secretion of these glands. As differences in the size of carpal glands are known between reproductive and non-reproductive females, and between boars and females, we expect differences in the chemical composition of secretions collected from different sexes and females of different reproductive status (Hypothesis 1). The larger gland sizes known to be present in boars and reproductive... 

The differences in sizes of carpal glands between sexes and between females of different reproductive status are reflected in our results on the chemical composition of their secretions. The extracts from boars and reproductive females contained more compounds than those from non-reproductive females. Furthermore, the composition of compounds is more similar between reproductive females and boars than between the two types of females. 

Qualitative and quantitative comparisons of the constituents of the urine of male and female white-tailed deer indicated that the presence and concentration of the urinary compounds depend on the season, reproductive status and social rank of the animals [ 132,133]. Of the 63 and 55 compounds characterized in female and male urine, respectively, 27 were common to both sexes, 36... 

Even in people with the same diagnosis and the same inclusion and exclusion criteria, there are different treatment responses based on individual variability. The most important individual variables are probably sex and age. It is unfortunate that even though affective disorders and some anxiety disorders are more prevalent in women than in men, until recently results of clinical trials did not take into consideration sex differences and variables unique to women [e.g., reproductive status and menstrual cycle]. As is demonstrated by Yonkers et al. [see Chapter 5, in this volume], there are substantial sex differences in the pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics of most antidepressants and anxiolytics, which influence treatment response. Attention to these variables will indeed improve the efficacy of treatment. 

Sledge M. F., Boscaro F. and Turillazzi S. (2001) Cuticular hydrocarbons and reproductive status in the social wasp Polistes dominulus. Behav. Ecol. Sociobiol. 49, 401 -09. 

Monnin, T. (2006). Chemical recognition of reproductive status in social insects. Ann. Zool. Fennici, 43, 515-530. 

Brent, C., Peeters, C., Dietmann, V., Crewe, R. and Vargo, E.D. (2006). Hormonal correlates of reproductive status in the queenless ponerine ant, Streblognathus peetersi. J. Comp. Physiol., 192A, 315-320. 

Cuvillier-Hot, V., Renault, V. and Peeters, C. (2005). Rapid modification in the olfactory signal of ants following a change in reproductive status. Naturwissenschaften, 92, 73-77. 

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