Brown R E, Singh P B, Roser B
Physiol Behav. 1987;40(1):65-73. doi: 10.1016/0031-9384(87)90186-7.
The present experiments provide the first evidence that congenic strains of rats, which differ only in the MHC, produce discriminably different urinary chemosignals. Urine from adult male PVG and PVG.R1 rats, which differ only in the A region (class 1) of the MHC, was used in a habituation-dishabituation task, with male PVG-RTlu, Wistar albino, and Lister hooded rats as subjects. Urine from PVG males was easily distinguished from that of PVG.R1 males by all three strains. Individual PVG males were not distinguished by their urine odours, but individual PVG.R1 males appeared to have discriminably different odours. A repetition of this experiment indicated that this discrimination may have been due to impurities in the urine. Odours from serum were not sufficient for discrimination between the two strains, nor was the class 1 molecule purified from the urine. Urine with the class 1 molecule removed (remainder fraction) could, however, be used to distinguish between the strains. The chemicals in the urine which give this distinctive odour may be fragments of the class 1 molecule or small molecules associated with the class 1 molecule. The MHC appears to control the odour cues which are used by mammals for individual recognition and may provide an olfactory basis for kin recognition but the mechanism by which the MHC controls these olfactory signals is unknown.
目前的实验首次证明，仅在MHC方面存在差异的大鼠近交系会产生明显不同的尿液化学信号。来自成年雄性PVG和PVG.R1大鼠（它们仅在MHC的A区域（1类）存在差异）的尿液被用于一项习惯化 - 去习惯化任务中，受试对象为雄性PVG - RTlu、白化Wistar和利斯特戴帽大鼠。所有这三个品系都能轻易区分PVG雄性大鼠的尿液和PVG.R1雄性大鼠的尿液。单个PVG雄性大鼠无法通过其尿液气味被区分，但单个PVG.R1雄性大鼠似乎具有明显不同的气味。重复该实验表明，这种区分可能是由于尿液中的杂质。血清气味不足以区分这两个品系，从尿液中纯化出的1类分子也不行。然而，去除了1类分子的尿液（剩余部分）可用于区分这两个品系。赋予这种独特气味的尿液中的化学物质可能是1类分子的片段或与1类分子相关的小分子。MHC似乎控制着哺乳动物用于个体识别的气味线索，可能为亲缘识别提供嗅觉基础，但MHC控制这些嗅觉信号的机制尚不清楚。
