Alarm pheromone that aggravates stress-induced hyperthermia is soluble in water

We previously reported that stressed male Wistar rats released alarm pheromone from the perianal region, which aggravated stress-induced hyperthermia and increased Fos expression in the mitral/tufted cell layer of the accessory olfactory bulb in recipient rats. In this study, we attempted to obtain this pheromone in water using these responses as bioassay parameters. Water droplets were collected from the ceiling of a box in which no animal was placed, or from a box in which an anesthetized donor rat was given electrical stimulation to either the neck or perianal regions in order to induce neck odor or alarm pheromone release, respectively. Then we placed one of the three kinds of water-containing filter papers on the wall of a recipient's home cage and observed heart rate, body temperature and behavioral responses, as well as Fos expression in the main and accessory olfactory bulbs of the recipient. The water collected from the box containing the alarm pheromone was found to generate a reproduction of all of the responses seen in the animal that had been directly exposed to alarm pheromone in our previous studies. These results suggest that the alarm pheromone is soluble in water.     

Neural mechanisms of alarm pheromone signaling

Alarm pheromones are important semiochemicals used by many animal species to alert conspecifics or other related species of impending danger. In this review, we describe recent developments in our understanding of the neural mechanisms underlying the ability of fruit flies, zebrafish and mice to mediate the detection of alarm pheromones. Specifically, alarm pheromones are detected in these species through specialized olfactory subsystems that are unique to the chemosensitive receptors, second messenger-signaling and physiology. Thus, the alarm pheromones appears to be detected by signaling mechanisms that are distinct from those seen in the canonical olfactory system.     

Fathead minnows avoid conspedfic and heterospedfic alarm pheromones in the faeces of northern pike

Groups of fathead minnows Pimephales promelas were tested to determine if they avoided areas of a test tank labelled with the faeces of a predator (northern pike, Esox lucius ) which had recently been fed minnows, brook sticklebacks Culaea inconstans , or swordtails Xiphophorus helleri. Minnows exhibited a fright reaction upon presentation of sponges labelled with faeces, when the pike had consumed minnows or sticklebacks, but not swordtails (which lack alarm pheromones). The fright reaction was characterized by increased shoal cohesiveness and increased dashing and freezing behaviour. Minnows avoided the area of the tank containing the faeces from pike on diets of minnows or sticklebacks, but not from pike fed a diet of swordtails. These data demonstrate that: (1) minnows actively avoid the faeces of pike fed minnows or brook sticklebacks, and (2) minnows exhibit a fright reaction to the faeces of a pike fed brook sticklebacks.     

Chemical Communication in the Gregarious Psocid Cerastipsocus sivorii (Psocoptera: Psocidae)

The objectives of this study were: (1) to test the existence of an aggregation pheromone in the gregarious psocid Cerastipsocus sivorii; (2) to compare the attractiveness of odors from different aggregations; (3) to test whether nymphs are able to chemically recognize damage-released alarm signals. In a choice experiment conducted in the laboratory, we showed that psocids are able to detect chemical cues from groups of conspecifics. Laboratory experiments also showed that nymphs are capable of chemically recognizing the aggregations where they came from. Finally, in a field experiment, most aggregations dispersed when exposed to the body fluids of a crushed conspecific, but no aggregations dispersed upon exposure to a crushed termite. The implications of these results for the evolution of sociality in psocopterans are discussed.     

红火蚁告警信息素的GC-EAD分析

[背景]2-乙基-3,6-二甲基吡嗪是红火蚁告警信息素的主要成分,本研究旨在分离、鉴定红火蚁工蚁浸提液中告警信息素成分,分析红火蚁工蚁对告警信息素合成样品混合物的电生理反应。[方法]200 g红火蚁工蚁的正己烷浸提液过硅胶柱,正己烷—丙酮体系洗脱,气相色谱（GC）和气相色谱—质谱联用（GC-MS）分析检测浸提液中含告警信息素的流分,气相色谱—触角电位联用仪（GC-EAD）分析红火蚁工蚁对2-乙基-3,5（6）-二甲基吡嗪混合物的电生理活性。[结果]红火蚁工蚁正己烷浸提液硅胶柱层析分离能够得到含2-乙基-3,6-二甲基吡嗪的流分,GC-MS分析的保留时间在11.45 min。经过GC-EAD分析,发现红火蚁工蚁对2-乙基-3,5（6）-二甲基吡嗪混合物有显著的电生理反应。[结论与意义]红火蚁工蚁对2-乙基-3,6-二甲基吡嗪的电生理反应比2-乙基-3,5-二甲基吡嗪高。     

Food collection and response to pheromones in an ant species exposed to electromagnetic radiation

We used the ant species Myrmica sabuleti as a model to study the impact of electromagnetic waves on social insects' response to their pheromones and their food collection. We quantified M. sabuleti workers' response to their trail, area marking and alarm pheromone under normal conditions. Then, we quantified the same responses while under the influence of electromagnetic waves. Under such an influence, ants followed trails for only short distances, no longer arrived at marked areas and no longer orientated themselves to a source of alarm pheromone. Also when exposed to electromagnetic waves, ants became unable to return to their nest and recruit congeners; therefore, the number of ants collecting food increases only slightly and slowly. After 180 h of exposure, their colonies deteriorated. Electromagnetic radiation obviously affects social insects' behavior and physiology.     

Pugnose eels, Simenchelys parasiticus (Synaphobranchidae) from the heart of a shortfin mako, Isurus oxyrinchus (Lamnidae)

The body depth of crucian carp, Carassius carassius, increases in the presence of predator fish, thereby decreasing the vulnerability of crucian carp to predation. This phenotypic change is mediated by chemical signals, and is believed to result from a piscivorous diet of predators. We have shown that exposure to a piscivorous predator is insufficient to induce growth changes in crucian carp, since water from northern pike, Esox lucius, fed Arctic charr, Salvelinus alpinus, does not induce a change in crucian carp morphology, while water from pike fed crucian carp does. The determining factor is a chemical signal from the skin of crucian carp, as demonstrated by exposure to skin extracts from conspecifics. We suggest that alarm substances from conspecifics, expressing primer pheromone effects, are the most likely candidates for induction of the phenotypical changes.     

Molecular basis of (E)-β-farnesene-mediated aphid location in the predator Eupeodes corollae

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Social learning of fear and safety is determined by the demonstrator's racial group

Social learning offers an efficient route through which humans and other animals learn about potential dangers in the environment. Such learning inherently relies on the transmission of social information and should imply selectivity in what to learn from whom. Here, we conducted two observational learning experiments to assess how humans learn about danger and safety from members (‘demonstrators'') of an other social group than their own. We show that both fear and safety learning from a racial in-group demonstrator was more potent than learning from a racial out-group demonstrator.     

Amygdaloid and non-amygdaloid fear both influence avoidance of risky foraging in hungry rats

Considerable evidence seems to show that emotional and reflex reactions to feared situations are mediated by the amygdala. It might therefore seem plausible to expect that amygdala-coded fear should also influence decisions when animals make choices about instrumental actions. However, there is not good evidence of this. In particular, it appears, though the literature is conflicted, that once learning is complete, the amygdala may often not be involved in instrumental avoidance behaviours. It is therefore of interest that we have found in rats living for extended periods in a semi-naturalistic ‘closed economy’, where they were given random shocks in regions that had to be entered to obtain food, choices about feeding behaviour were in fact influenced by amygdala-coded fear, in spite of the null effect of amygdalar lesions on fear of dangerous location per se. We suggest that avoidance of highly motivated voluntary behaviour does depend in part on fear signals originating in the amygdala. Such signalling may be one role of well-known projections from amygdala to cortico-striate circuitry.