Cloe A L, Woodley S K, Waters P, Zhou H, Baum M J
Department of Biology, Boston University, Boston, MA 02215, USA.
Physiol Behav. 2004 Oct 15;82(5):871-5. doi: 10.1016/j.physbeh.2004.07.006.
Previous research [J. Neurosci. 21 (2001) 5832-5840] showed that ferrets of both sexes require olfactory signals to identify opposite-sex mating partners at a distance. The present experiments assessed the contributions of anal scent gland and urinary odorants to these preferences. Sexually experienced, ovohysterectomized female and castrated male ferrets were injected daily with estradiol benzoate and testosterone propionate, respectively. When tested in an airtight Y-maze, subjects of both sexes preferred to approach volatile odors emitted from opposite- versus same-sex stimulus ferrets that were anesthetized and placed in the goal boxes, regardless of whether the anal scent glands of stimulus ferrets had been surgically removed or left intact. Subjects of each sex showed an equal preference to approach volatile odors emitted from anesthetized opposite-sex ferrets that were scent-gland intact as opposed to descented. Female subjects preferred to approach volatile anal scent gland odorants, as well as urinary odorants from male, as opposed to female conspecifics. Male subjects preferred to approach volatile anal scents from females versus males; however, males showed no preference for female over male urinary odorants. Our results suggest that anal scent gland odorants are sufficient, but not required, for mate recognition in the ferret. Instead, a combination of body odorants including, but not restricted to, those derived from anal scent gland secretions apparently underlie olfactory sex discrimination and partner preference in this carnivore.
先前的研究[《神经科学杂志》21(2001)5832 - 5840]表明，两性雪貂都需要嗅觉信号来远距离识别异性交配伙伴。本实验评估了肛门气味腺和尿液气味物质对这些偏好的作用。对有性经验的、切除卵巢子宫的雌性雪貂和阉割的雄性雪貂分别每天注射苯甲酸雌二醇和丙酸睾酮。当在一个密闭的Y型迷宫中进行测试时，无论刺激雪貂的肛门气味腺是否已被手术切除或保持完整，两性受试雪貂都更倾向于接近麻醉后放置在目标箱中的异性而非同性刺激雪貂散发的挥发性气味。每性别的受试雪貂对接近气味腺完整而非已去除气味腺的麻醉异性雪貂散发的挥发性气味表现出同等的偏好。雌性受试雪貂更倾向于接近挥发性肛门气味腺气味物质以及来自雄性而非雌性同种动物的尿液气味物质。雄性受试雪貂更倾向于接近来自雌性而非雄性的挥发性肛门气味；然而，雄性对雌性和雄性尿液气味物质没有表现出偏好。我们的结果表明，肛门气味腺气味物质对于雪貂识别配偶是足够的，但并非必需的。相反，包括但不限于源自肛门气味腺分泌物的多种身体气味物质的组合显然是这种食肉动物嗅觉性别辨别和配偶偏好的基础。
