title: Imorin: a sexual attractiveness pheromone in female red-bellied newts (Cynops pyrrhogaster).
abstract: The male red-bellied newt (Cynops pyrrhogaster) approaches the female's cloaca prior to performing any courtship behaviour, as if he is using some released substance to gauge whether she is sexually receptive. Therefore, we investigated whether such a female sexual attractiveness pheromone exists. We found that a tripeptide with amino acid sequence Ala-Glu-Phe is secreted by the ciliary cells in the epithelium of the proximal portion of the oviduct of sexually developed newts and confirmed that this is the major active substance in water in which sexually developed female newts have been kept. This substance only attracted sexually developed male newts and acted by stimulating the vomeronasal epithelial cells. This is the first female sexual attractiveness peptide pheromone to be identified in a vertebrate.
authors.affiliation: Department of Veterinary Medicine, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Nippon Veterinary and Life Science University, Tokyo 180-8602, Japan.
authors.forename: Tomoaki
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Nakada
authors.affiliation: Department of Physiology, Nara Medical University, Nara 634-8521, Japan.
authors.forename: Fumiyo
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Toyoda
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Regulatory Biology, Graduate School of Science and Engineering, University of Toyama, Toyama 930-8555, Japan.
authors.forename: Kouhei
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Matsuda
authors.affiliation: Department of Anatomy and Cell Biology, Teikyo University School of Medicine, Tokyo 173-8605, Japan.
authors.forename: Takashi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Nakakura
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology, Faculty of Science, Toho University, Chiba 274-8510, Japan.
authors.forename: Itaru
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Hasunuma
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology, Faculty of Education and Integrated Sciences, Waseda University, Tokyo 169-8050, Japan.
authors.forename: Kazutoshi
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Yamamoto
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmacokinetics and Pharmacodynamics, School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Shizuoka, Shizuoka 422-8526, Japan.
authors.forename: Satomi
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Onoue
authors.affiliation: Department of Veterinary Medicine, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Nippon Veterinary and Life Science University, Tokyo 180-8602, Japan.
authors.forename: Makoto
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Yokosuka
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology, Faculty of Education and Integrated Sciences, Waseda University, Tokyo 169-8050, Japan.
authors.forename: Sakae
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kikuyama
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D004151:Dipeptides / Q000302:isolation & purification / Q000494:pharmacology; D005260:Female; D008297:Male; D010057:Oviducts / Q000166:cytology / Q000187:drug effects / Q000648:ultrastructure; D012455:Salamandridae / Q000502:physiology*; D012724:Sex Attractants / Q000302:isolation & purification / Q000494:pharmacology*; D019147:Vomeronasal Organ / Q000166:cytology
chemical_list: D004151:Dipeptides; D012724:Sex Attractants; C041371:phenylalanylglutamate