Vomeronasal/accessory olfactory system and pheromonal recognition

Pregnancy block in mice requires exposure of recently mated females to urinary pheromones of a strange male, and when working with inbred strains this invariably requires urine from an outbred line. The pheromones which induce oestrus and early puberty in mice have been identified as the brevicomins and dihydrothiazoles. Since the same vomeronasal, neural and neuroendocrine pathways are also activated in pregnancy block, these compounds are likely candidates for pregnancy blocking pheromones. However, these relatively simple chemicals lack the capacity to code for differing mouse strains. Since large quantities of the polymorphic major urinary proteins from the lipocalin family found in urine serve as transporters for the dihydrothiazoles and brevicomins, and differ across strains, then these proteins must participate in pheromone recognition in the context of pregnancy block.