PLoS Biol: fish semen actually contains pheromones, so what about humans?

July 27, 2019 / BIOON / - Anne M scot of Michigan State University, zhe Zhang of Shanghai Ocean University and his colleagues in PLoS Biology Open Access recently A study published in journal found that there is an pheromone in fish semen, which can attract females to test the menstruation of males who are producing semen In fish and other animals that use IVF, sperm exposure promotes oviposition However, it has not been found that there is a special compound in semen, which is called aphrodisin In the new study, Richard neubig, Weiming Li and their colleagues tried to identify an pheromone in the sperm of lampreys This is a kind of fish without jaws They gather together to lay eggs Each male with sperm guards a nest The ovulating female moves from one nest to another in order to mate The researchers speculate that compounds in semen may signal to ovulating females that they have males that are producing semen Source: Anne M Scott and her colleagues discovered an odor compound called spermine, originally found in human semen, which is actually a seminal pheromone At very low concentrations, spermine stimulated the olfactory system of lamprey, attracting ovulating females, but not males or pre ovulating females They found a special spermine activated receptor in the olfactory tissue of lamprey, and successfully blocked the attraction of spermine to ovulating females with a compound that blocked the receptor "We found that the sperm of eels contains spermine, a highly specific and powerful pheromone that only attracts females who are ready to mate," said Anne Scott "This finding suggests a new strategy for males to recruit mates by releasing chemicals from their semen Ovulating females are likely to take sperm and spermine released together as a reliable signal that there are active males laying eggs nearby The results elucidate a mechanism by which pheromones in semen can attract ready-made female partners and suggest that olfactory detection of semen from invertebrates to humans may be preserved According to the authors, their pheromone identification may also have management significance for the control or protection of eel population Reference: Scott am et al (2019) spermine in men of male sea lamprey acts as a sex pheromone PLoS Biol 17 (7): e3000332