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Sexual communication in tears
The Scientist 2005, 19(20):20
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For mice, getting teary-eyed conveys more than just sentiment. A non-volatile peptide secreted from the eyes of male mice elicits neuronal activity in the vomeronasal organ (VNO) of females, pointing to a new mode of chemical communication between mammals. Kazushige Touhara at the University of Tokyo's Department of Integrated Biosciences says that while most putative mammalian pheromones are volatile substances present in urine, mice also explore the facial region of other individuals during social encounters, which activates neuronal firing in the VNO.
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