-Caveat Lector-
In 1989 I wrote a preliminary-research paper on pheromone reception as a
possible source for a non-visual, non-auditory, non-rational "psychic" sense
I termed "Psmell" (Psi-Smell). The amount of complex information that a
bloodhound's nose-brain can process out-detectives Sherlock Holmes -- but it
never reaches one's "consciousness,"
which is to say the rational-logical part of the mind -- it "registers," but
OUTSIDE the customary modes of categorization and conceptualization which
give sensory data "meaning," and outside our capacity for MEMORY linked to
those cortical centers.
This kind of information MAY, however, reach the "non-dominant" right
hemisphere of the brain, which is able to process non- verbal-symbolic
"analog" data from the body.
Typically, pheromones are automatically RESPONDED TO, behaviorally, without
any consciousness of the process. NON-volitional responses, e.g., autonomic
responses,
are recorded, processed, and "remembered," but in what we term "the
unconscious."
Such --I argued in my paper-- is the stuff one's "psychic" abilities are
made of ...
"Pheromonal information bypasses the cerebral cortex, going
straight to the amygdala and the hypothalamus, affecting behavior
and altering hormone production."
Neurobiologists Show How
the Brain Processes Signals from Pheromones
April 15, 1999
News from The Rockefeller University, NY
Researchers at The Rockefeller University have shown for
the first time in mice how the brain processes signals from
pheromones, essential chemicals used by animals to communicate
with each other. Reported in the April 16 issue of "Cell," the
findings provide the first look at the "wiring diagram" of the
accessory olfactory system and show that it differs dramatically
from the wiring diagram for the main olfactory system, which all
mammals, including humans, use to detect smells.
"We have elucidated for the first time the wiring diagram of
the accessory olfactory system in mammals, and we have shown that
is more complex than the main olfactory system," says senior
author Peter Mombaerts, M.D., Ph.D., assistant professor and head
of the Laboratory of Vertebrate Developmental Neurogenetics at
Rockefeller. "We think that the complex wiring of the accessory
olfactory system reflects the need for the brain to recognize
blends of molecules, rather than the individual odorant molecules
recognized by the main olfactory system."
Scientists think the accessory olfactory system, also known
as the vomeronasal system, is involved in animal communication.
Neurons located in a structure called the vomeronasal organ
project their axons to a specialized part of the olfactory bulb
-- the accessory olfactory bulb. The olfactory bulb is the first
relay station of the olfactory system, where information is
collected, integrated and processed. When the vomeronasal organ
is removed from animals, they undergo profound changes in mating
behavior and aggression.
In the "Cell" paper, Ivan Rodriguez, Ph.D., and Paul
Feinstein, Ph.D., along with Mombaerts used genetic manipulation
techniques to determine the wiring diagram of the accessory
olfactory system and found pronounced differences from the
diagram of the main olfactory system.
First, the researchers found that all the neurons that
express the same pheromone receptor project their axons to
multiple targets in the accessory olfactory bulb, called
glomeruli. There are about 15 glomeruli in all, compared to only
two in the main olfactory bulb. Second, the positions of the
glomeruli in the accessory olfactory bulb are variable, whereas
in the main olfactory bulb the positions are fixed.
"One could argue that the variable positions of the
glomeruli in the accessory olfactory bulb may be accounted for by
differences among the mice: they are all genetically slightly
different," says Mombaerts. "But this variability is also clear
between the two accessory olfactory bulbs of the same animal: the
left- and the right-hand sides are not symmetrical."
The researchers showed that when the pheromone receptor
gene is knocked out, the projection pattern is very different.
"The neurons seem to go all over the place, suggesting that
the receptor need to be expressed to make proper connections,"
explains Mombaerts.
Mombaerts says that "as an encore," they replaced by
genetic manipulation the pheromone receptor with an odorant
receptor from the main olfactory system. The researchers found
that even with an odorant receptor, the neurons projected their
axons to another set of numerous glomeruli, in a complex and
variable pattern.
"These last two experiments suggest that the pheromone
receptor is involved in setting up the wiring diagram, and
strangely enough, its function can be substituted by a molecule
whose function is totally unrelated," says Mombaerts.
In fact, Mombaerts says, the two receptors share only one
thing in common: both belong to a family of molecules called
seven transmembrane receptors, meaning that they cross the cell
membrane seven times. These receptors receive information from
the environment outside the cell and transmit it inside the cell
for processing.
Now that Mombaerts has shown that the wiring diagrams of
the two olfactory systems are different, the question is why? The
main olfactory system is designed to detect a variety of odors,
often at extremely low concentrations, and it must make fine
distinctions between molecules with similar structure but
different smells.
"Perhaps this is the perfect way to detect odors," suggests
Mombaerts. "Spread out the detector neurons across a wide area of
the nasal epithelium, so that you maximize the chance that a
whiff of air stimulates the correct neurons. Then to make the
system sensitive enough all these axons from these neurons come
together in the glomerulus and connect to the same second-order
neurons."
The mammalian accessory olfactory system provides
information about chemical signals produced by individuals of the
same species. From the research done on insects, Mombaerts says,
most pheromones work as a blend or a cocktail.
"It's a collection of chemical stimuli that allows one
animal to determine, for example, that the other one is female,
that it is at the right part of the cycle to mate and that it
hasn't mated yet," explains Mombaerts. "All this information is
transmitted by a few chemicals in a complex blend."
Mombaerts thinks that this may be the reason for the more
complex wiring diagram in the accessory olfactory system, which
is geared toward recognizing patterns rather than recognizing and
distinguishing specific molecules.
Another question posed by the wiring diagram is: why is it
variable? Scientists know that the accessory olfactory system is
very dependent on the experience of the animal. If the VNO is
removed from a sexually naive animal --one that has never mated
before-- the animal experiences severe sexual dysfunction and
won't mate. But, if the VNO is removed from an animal that has
mated previously, the animal has no problem in its sex life.
"We think perhaps the wiring pattern is variable because it
reflects the experiences of the animal," says Mombaerts. "In
effect, experience shapes the connections."
Mombaerts suggests that further studies of the accessory
olfactory system may show that, for instance, virgin females will
have wiring patterns similar to one another but different from
those of sexually experienced females.
Mombaerts also thinks that there is a stochastic, or
random, element to the asymmetry observed in the glomeruli of the
accessory olfactory system, because the left and the right
accessory olfactory bulbs are not mirror images. The neurons of
the main and the accessory olfactory systems renew or rejuvenate
themselves, a process that is unique in sensory systems.
Mombaerts suggests that the replacement of neurons may partially
account for the stochastic property of the system.
"Pheromonal information bypasses the cortex and goes
straight to other brain structures such as the amygdala and the
hypothalamus, affecting behavior and regulating hormone
production," Mombaerts says. "What really matters is the
principles of the connection patterns between the accessory bulb
and those other structures."
Mombaerts suggests that the first stage may show this
variability, but the connections from the 15 glomeruli to the
amygdala and the hypothalamus are perhaps much less variable.</P>
<P>	"Genetic methods have been recently developed by others to
study the connectivity in the next step of the pathway," he
explains. "What really matters is how this map is connected to
higher brain centers."
This research was supported primarily by a grant from the March
of Dimes Birth Defects Foundation and by the National Institutes
of Health, the Human Frontier Science Program Organization, the
Swiss National Foundation, the European Molecular Biology
Organization, and Bristol-Myers Squibb. Mombaerts was an Alfred
P. Sloan, Basil O'Connor, Guggenheim, Irma T. Hirschl,
Klingenstein, McKnight, Rita Allen and Searle Scholar or Fellow.
Rockefeller began in 1901 as The Rockefeller Institute for
Medical Research, the first U.S. biomedical research center.
Rockefeller faculty members have made significant
achievements, including the discovery that DNA is the carrier of
genetic information and the launching of the scientific field of
modern cell biology. The university has ties to 19 Nobel
laureates. Thirty-three faculty members are elected members of
the U.S. National Academy of Sciences, including its President
Arnold J. Levine, Ph.D.
http://www.rockefeller.edu/pubinfo/vomeronasal.nr.html
Copyright 1999, The Rockefeller University
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