Rae...
The pheromones we use are NOT from animals. they are synthetic formulas of either male or female HUMAN pheromones. They are lab certified as such. In the last year there has been legitimate research on human pheromones & the fact that they do work.Below are just a few research studies of many now available.
Home > Research >
'Chemical communication' being studied at IU�s Institute for
Pheromone Research
By Hal Kibbey
Novotny
An IU chemist�s laboratory identified the first definitive
mammalian pheromones in the house mouse in the late 1980s.
Before then, the term 'pheromones' was largely confined to the
world of insects. In a recent issue of 'Nature,' Milos Novotny
and Harvard colleagues explore 'semiochemicals' in mammals.
All it takes is a few molecules of a certain chemical to enable
mammals to smell their own species up to a half-mile away, says
Milos Novotny, Distinguished Professor of chemistry and
director of the Institute for Pheromone Research at Indiana
University Bloomington.
The chemicals, called pheromones, are detected by the
vomeronasal organ (VNO) in the animal's nose. Unlike the part of
the nose that detects ordinary smells, this super-sensitive organ
is connected directly to the mid-brain.
"This is the shortest organ-to-brain distance in mammalian
biology," Novotny said. "A cascade of biochemical processes can
be triggered quite selectively by specific olfactants such as
pheromones at incredibly small quantities. Studies of mammalian
pheromones can have a significant effect on pest control,
promoting endangered species, and, perhaps above all, for
understanding our own sense of smell and associated behaviors."
Signals from a mammal's nose caused by normal smells called
odorants go to various places in the cortex, in the upper part of
the brain, which is why humans are conscious of smells. But
pheromone signals go directly to the mid-brain, without being
processed by the conscious brain. What happens after that is
not completely clear, but there is a lot of evidence that the
animal's behavior and hormonal levels are influenced.
In a paper published July 12 in the journal Nature, Novotny and
co-workers at Harvard Medical School in Boston headed by
Linda Buck reported that the vomeronasal organ can actually
detect both odorants and pheromones. The VNO detected
odorants classified as animalic, camphoraceous, citrus, floral,
fruity, green/minty, musky, sweet or woody. Like pheromones,
these odorants were detected at extremely small
concentrations.
"This suggests that in mammals, as in insects, odorous
compounds released from plants or other animal species may act
as 'semiochemicals'--signaling molecules that elicit behaviors
that are advantageous to the sender or the receiver," Novotny
said.
"The house mouse provides a classic example of an elaborate
pheromone communication system: to signal inter-male
aggression and dominance, to show readiness for mating, to slow
down or accelerate the onset of puberty as needed, or to signal
stress to the other members of a colony," he said. "Other
mammals, including possibly humans, use structurally diverse
substances for pheromone signaling."
The established view is that mammals detect odorants in the
olfactory epithelium (OE) of the nose and detect pheromones in
the vomeronasal organ. OE signals are relayed to various areas
in the cortex of the brain, while VNO signals are targeted to
areas of the mid-brain that control instinctive drives,
neuroendocrine responses and innate behaviors. The findings by
Novotny and his collaborators demonstrate that the VNO and
OE do not, in fact, detect mutually exclusive sets of chemicals.
Novotny's laboratory identified the first definitive mammalian
pheromones in the house mouse in the late 1980s, including their
chemical structure, synthesis and biological effects. Before
then, the term "pheromones" was largely confined to the world
of insects. Since then, he has identified pheromones in rats and
hamsters as well.
His current emphasis is on the neurochemistry of neurons in the
VNO and OE. He is the leader of interdisciplinary studies that
bridge the physical sciences, life sciences and social sciences,
including chemistry, neurobiology, psychobiology, biochemistry,
wildlife ecology, medical sciences, and animal physiology and
behavior.
The Institute for Pheromone Research at IU is a center of
excellence in the rapidly developing areas of chemical
communication (semiochemistry) and biochemical aspects of
olfactory perception. It promotes interdisciplinary collaborations
between IU scientists and a worldwide network of researchers
in chemical communication.
IU Home Pages
Both smells and pheromones may arouse instinctive behaviors in mammals
July 16, 2001
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- Ever notice how male dogs come from the other side of the neighborhood when a female dog is in heat?
All it takes is a few molecules of a certain chemical to enable mammals to smell their own species up to a half-mile away, said Milos Novotny, Distinguished Professor of Chemistry and director of the Institute for Pheromone Research at Indiana University.
The chemicals, called pheromones, are detected by the vomeronasal organ (VNO) in the animal's nose. Unlike the part of the nose that detects ordinary smells, this super-sensitive organ is connected directly to the mid-brain.
"This is the shortest organ-to-brain distance in mammalian biology," Novotny said. "A cascade of biochemical processes can be triggered quite selectively by specific olfactants such as pheromones at incredibly small quantities. Studies of mammalian pheromones can have a significant effect on pest control, promoting endangered species, and, perhaps above all, for understanding our own sense of smell and associated behaviors."
Signals from a mammal's nose caused by normal smells called odorants go to various places in the cortex, in the upper part of the brain, which is why humans are conscious of smells. But pheromone signals go directly to the mid-brain, without being processed by the conscious brain. What happens after that is not completely clear, but there is a lot of evidence that the animal's behavior and hormonal levels are influenced.
In a paper published July 12 in the journal Nature, Novotny and co-workers at Harvard Medical School in Boston headed by Linda Buck reported that the vomeronasal organ can actually detect both odorants and pheromones. The VNO detected odorants classified as animalic, camphoraceous, citrus, floral, fruity, green/minty, musky, sweet or woody. Like pheromones, these odorants were detected at extremely small concentrations.
"This suggests that in mammals, as in insects, odorous compounds released from plants or other animal species may act as 'semiochemicals' -- signaling molecules that elicit behaviors that are advantageous to the sender or the receiver," Novotny said.
"The house mouse provides a classic example of an elaborate pheromone communication system: to signal inter-male aggression and dominance, to show readiness for mating, to slow down or accelerate the onset of puberty as needed, or to signal stress to the other members of a colony," he said. "Other mammals, including possibly humans, use structurally diverse substances for pheromone signaling."
The established view is that mammals detect odorants in the olfactory epithelium (OE) of the nose and detect pheromones in the vomeronasal organ. OE signals are relayed to various areas in the cortex of the brain, while VNO signals are targeted to areas of the mid-brain that control instinctive drives, neuroendocrine responses and innate behaviors. The findings by Novotny and his collaborators demonstrate that the VNO and OE do not, in fact, detect mutually exclusive sets of chemicals.
Novotny's laboratory identified the first definitive mammalian pheromones in the house mouse in the late 1980s, including their chemical structure, synthesis and biological effects. Before then, the term "pheromones" was largely confined to the world of insects. Since then, he has identified pheromones in rats and hamsters as well.
His current emphasis is on the neurochemistry of neurons in the VNO and OE. He is the leader of interdisciplinary studies that bridge the physical sciences, life sciences and social sciences, including chemistry, neurobiology, psychobiology, biochemistry, wildlife ecology, medical sciences, and animal physiology and behavior.
The Institute for Pheromone Research at IU is a center of excellence in the rapidly developing areas of chemical communication (semiochemistry) and biochemical aspects of olfactory perception. It promotes interdisciplinary collaborations between IU scientists and a worldwide network of researchers in chemical communication.
Novotny can be reached at 812-855-4532 or [email]novotny@indiana.edu<br[/email] />
(Hal Kibbey, 812-855-0074, [email]hkibbey@indiana.edu)<br[/email] />
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Researchers find gene that may open door to pheromone
By The Associated Press
Scientists have identified the first human gene that may be linked to pheromones, odorless molecules that in other animals trigger primal urges including sex, defense and kinship.
Experts describe the discovery as possibly opening a new door into the role of pheromones in human development.
In animals, researchers have documented how pheromones trace complex neurological paths to stimulate parts of the brain that are deeply rooted in instinct.
Researchers have long believed that humans also communicate through pheromones, but until now they had been unable to find any of the equipment needed to detect these potent molecules.
Now, in experiments at Rockefeller University and Yale, neurogeneticists have isolated a human gene, labeled V1RL1, that they believe encodes for a pheromone receptor in the mucous lining of the nose. A receptor is a patch on the surface of a cell that binds with specific molecules, like a lock that accepts only a specific key.
''This is the first convincing identification of a human pheromone receptor,'' said University of Colorado biochemist Joseph Falke.
Humans share the V1RL1 gene with rodents and other mammals that rely heavily on pheromone cues to survive.
However, it has not been determined whether the gene is active in humans or which pheromone-induced behavior the gene might induce.
''The ultimate test will be to find a pheromone that binds to the receptor and triggers a measurable physiological response,'' Falke said.
The research was published in the September issue of the journal Nature Genetics.
Researchers took samples from a gene bank and scanned them for matches to the rodent genes from the V1r family. They found eight matches in human genetic material.
Further testing showed that seven of the eight human V1r genes are inoperative. The potentially functional gene, called V1RL1, subsequently was found in 11 out of 11 randomly chosen people from varying ethnic backgrounds, researchers said.
While rodents and other creatures essentially are reactive animals that depend heavily on pheromones for behavioral cues, humans use their larger brains to rely more on judgment and complex sensory cues, such as vision.
''In mice, we think there are more than 100 functioning genes in the V1r family,'' said Ivan Rodriguez of Rockefeller University, lead author of the study. ''But in humans, V1RL1 may very well be the sole functioning gene in the family.''
''Why has it hung around all this time?'' said Charles Wysocki of the Monell Chemical Senses Center in Philadelphia. ''It must be very important if it has outlived all of its predecessors.''
Scientists aren't sure what happened to the other 99 genes.
''It's unheard of that a family of 100 genes in mice is reduced to a single gene in humans,'' said the study's senior author, Peter Mombaerts.
In most mammals, pheromones usually are detected by a specialized organ inside the nose or mouth called the vomeronasal organ, or VNO. Nerves connect it to parts of the brain involved in reactions rather than cognition.
In humans, the organ appears in embryos with its nerve cells extending into the developing brain. For several weeks, it serves as a pathway for hormones vital to sexual development and maturity. However, the VNO in humans shrinks and stops working before birth.
Researchers have long suspected that humans communicate with pheromones. But how pheromones are produced and how they are detected across a room, or even greater distances, is poorly understood.
One 1998 study at the University of Chicago demonstrated that pheromones in underarm sweat prompt women living in close quarters to synchronize their menstrual cycles.
Some companies put pheromones in perfumes. Chemical makers bait insect traps with pheromones.
Mombaerts said it is too early to tell whether the gene discovery might lead to pheromone-based medicines.
However, the potential for pheromone misuse worries some researchers and bioethicists.
''Safeguards will be needed to prevent the manipulation of human behavior,'' Falke said. ''We won't want pheromones showing up in magazine ads, or pumped through ventilation systems at the mall.''
Brief Communication Nature, 12 July 2001
Nature ,Volume 412, No. 6843, page 142 � Macmillan Publishers Ltd.
Neuropharmacology: Odorants may arouse instinctive behaviours*
Mehran Sam*, Sadhna Vora*, Bettina Malnic*, Weidong Ma�, Milos V Novtny�, Linda B Buck*
* Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Department of Neurobiology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts 02115, USA
� Institute for Pheromone Research, Department of Chemistry, Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana 47405, USA
e-mail: [email]lbuck@hms.harvard.edu<br[/email] />
The prevailing view of the mammalian olfactory system is that odorants are detected only in the nasal olfactory epithelium, whereas pheromones are generally detected in the vomeronasal organ. Here we show that vomeronasal neurons can actually detect both odorants and pheromones. This suggests that in mammals, as in insects, odorous compounds released from plants or other animal species may act as 'semiochemicals' -- signalling molecules that elicit stereotyped behaviours that are advantageous to the emitter or to the receiver.
*Reproduced with permission of Nature � Macmillan Pub. Ltd 2001 Reg. No. 785998 England.
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In his acceptance speech at the College of Arts and Sciences banquet where he was presented with the 1999 Distinguished Faculty Award, Milos Novotny recalled the journey that brought him to Indiana University. Born in Czechoslovakia, he earned his doctorate in biochemistry from the University of Brno in 1965. He left Czechoslovakia for a research post in Stockholm, Sweden, just weeks before Russian tanks moved in to repress the brief flowering of freedom known as the Prague Spring. Since 1971 he has been on the faculty at IU, but his international ties remain important to him. Science, he says, is an international discipline whose practitioners owe their first allegiance to the pursuit of knowledge. "I don�t think you can stop people from discovering," says Novotny. "It�s our basic human nature. We are curious. And of course we try to put our discoveries to good uses."
Pictured: Milos Novotny
Anyone who has ever leafed through a copy of Vogue or Mademoiselle is probably already familiar with the concept of pheromones. In the world of these magazines, pheromones are the mysterious substances that act subconsciously to produce sudden paroxysms of lust, adding their je-sais-exactly-quoi to expensive perfumes. Less sexily, they cause masses of women living together, as in dorms, to have their periods at the same time.
Well, the magazines don�t have it entirely wrong, but they don�t have it right, either. Pheromones�the real thing�are much less well understood and much more complex than the popular picture of sexual telepathy implies. They are also much more interesting.
Milos Novotny, James H. Rudy Professor of bioanalytical chemistry, has devoted a good part of the last twenty years or so to studying pheromones. His reaction to the notion that a dash of human pheromones in a bottle of perfume can spice up your sex life is a dismissive chuckle. All the same, there is clearly a note of passion in his voice when he discusses the subject.
"In the mid 1970s I became aware of pheromone communication in mammals," he says. Many studies had already been done on their effects on insects; Japanese beetle traps, for example, developed as a result of research done in the 60s, use pheromones to lure the beetles to their deaths. But even now, very few people are doing work with mammals. Novotny is one of the few. "Some people refer to me as the chemist in this field," he says, with some chagrin. "It�s nice to have something that is your own, but I wish more people were involved, to develop the field more quickly."
Novotny is drawn to research with mammals because their complexity is so great. There is, he says, "more plasticity to the behavior of the mammal," while insects respond in very consistent and predictable ways to chemical cues. "You synthesize pheromones in the lab, then there is a big danger all the ants in the building will come to that place," says Novotny. "Insects will follow slavishly a trail, animals think a little more."
Initially inspired by Marvin Carmack, professor emeritus of organic chemistry, Novotny began developing techniques for separating pheromones from the complex substances, such as urine, that carry them. He has worked mainly with mice and nocturnal animals whose poor vision demands that they rely heavily on the sense of smell.
"We have been able to reproduce the biological effect," Novotny says. "We can put man-made chemical on the skin of mice and cause them to fight."
In addition to inducing aggression, pheromones are linked to the following behavioral phenomena: Acceleration of puberty, dominance, synchronization of estrus, and, yes, sexual attraction.
It is hard to tell, in such a young field, where the research might lead. Pest control, as mentioned above, is one practical application, but there will certainly be many more. Novotny is particularly intrigued by the neurobiological aspects of his work "I�d like to see pheromone research leading to a better understanding of the sense of smell," he says. "The nose is the shortest possible route to our brain."
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Although his interest in pheromones is longstanding, Novotny�s work in the 70s, when he first came to IU, was quite a different kettle of fish. On a bookshelf in his office in the chemistry building he keeps a memento,"�for sentimental reasons," of those earlier efforts. It looks like a sprung Slinky that�s gone down the steps a few too many times. On closer examination, it turns out to be made of glass. Coiled, it�s easy to hold in your hand, but fully extended, Novotny says, breaking off a few expendable inches at the end for emphasis, it�s 50 yards long. This inelegant object turns out to be a highly sophisticated measuring device, a chromatogram. The glass is flecked inside with chemicals. When a substance to be analyzed is put in at one end, as it travels the length of the tube these chemicals react with different components of the unknown substance, ultimately reducing it from its sum into its parts.
It seems surprising, somehow, that in the era of the Internet and space travel, scientific advancement should be dependant on something so apparently simple as making a long enough, thin enough tube. "It all goes hand in hand," says Novotny. "This," he says, grasping a metal version of the chromatogram, "went to analyze Martian soil [as part of the 1975 Viking Lander mission]. High technologies click into "low" very well. These tubes can be attached to a computer that can distinguish, quantify, and compare the results."
The link between this early work and his current research into pheromones and glycans, or sugars�the two areas that Novotny says are closest to his heart�is his lifelong interest in understanding the workings of those most complex biological systems, human beings. "The human body I view as one big chemical reactor," he says. "My guiding philosophy for doing science is that I�m interested in some kinds of natural phenomena and it�s much easier to develop methodologies for what I�m interested in."
Even as a child, growing up in Czechoslovakia, Novotny knew he was going to be a scientist. At first, he wanted to do something biologically oriented. �My father was a botanist, so he really introduced me to nature,� he says. "At 15, I just happened to run into a medical student�he rented an apartment in my aunt�s house. I would have him explain things to me, and when he was studying for his exams, he used me as a sounding board."
Not surprisingly, Novotny aspired to study medicine himself, but he was "prevented by politics from doing this." Under communism, he says, "the system decided for you what you should do. I didn�t have a sufficiently politically friendly profile to pursue anything as socially prestigious as being a doctor. However, if I cannot do one thing, I try to do the next." And thus the chemist was born.
That willingness to try the next thing is a hallmark of Novotny�s work as well as his life. The themes that come up over and over again in his colleague�s commendations are his tenacity and his creativity. Both in the laboratory and in the classroom, he is constantly looking for new problems to be solved, and new ways to solve them.
Novotny himself finds the creativity of a scientist to be an unknown quanitity Where does it come from? And how does a teacher cultivate it? Novotny�s approach to these problems derives from his own experience. To become a creative scientist, a student needs to begin with boundless curiosity and then to train that curiosity with rigor. "Creativity in science is a subject that intrigues me,� he says. "I try to instill this in my students. Not just creativity, though. There has to be discipline in following through. One of my colleagues once said, �in science you have to be reckless,� not intimidated by authority. I think we are like artists in that way."
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Last Updated: December 15, 2000
Comments: [email]asalumni@indiana.edu<br[/email] />Copyright 2000, The Trustees of Indiana University
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Last Updated: December 15, 2000
Comments: [email]asalumni@indiana.edu<br[/email] />Copyright 2000, The Trustees of Indiana University
400 E. 7th Street. Bloomington, IN 47405
Phone: (812) 855-6494
Publication date: August 31, 2001
Comments: [email]homepgs@indiana.edu<br[/email] />Copyright 2000, The Trustees of Indiana University
