Sixth Sense: The Vomeronasal Organ Essay -- Biology Essays Research Pa

Sixth Sense The Vomeronasal Organ We are only more influenced by smell than we know. (Hercule Poirot) ....Murder in Retrospect, Agatha Christie Biologists have long realise that the noses of most vertebrates actually contain two sensory channels. The first is the beaten(prenominal) olfactory system, which humans possess. The second channel is the vomeronasal complex, a system that has its witness separate organs, nerves, and connecting structures in the brain. The function of the vomeronasal system is the detection of pheromones, chemical messengers that fetch information between individuals of the same species. It was widely believed (as I found in some of the older texts I examined) that humans had long ago remove this sensory system somewhere along evolutions trail. But convincing behavioural and anatomical evidence has since brought the notion of a human vomeronasal organ (VNO) into the estate of scientific fact. Some thirty years ago, when anatomist David Berliner was stu dying human scrape composition using scraped skin cells from the insides of discarded casts, he found that when he left vials containing skin extracts open, his lab assistants would become more friendly and fond than usual (1). When, months later, he decided to cover the vials, the warm and relaxed behavior was perceptibly reduced. These findings led him to investigate the possible existence of odorless human pheromones and a sixth sense organ to detect their presence, a VNO.While this primordial evidence was not empirical, anatomists have since found that all humans peril two tiny pits, with duct openings, on both sides of the septum just quarter the opening of the nose (3). The duct leads into a tubular lumen miss a thick, distinct sensory epithelium. ... ...ture textbooks will attribute to humans this mysterious, unconscious sixth sense. WWW Sources1)Chemicals the cause excitementhttp//www.microscopy-uk.org.uk/mag/indexmag.html?http//www.microscopy-uk.org.uk/mag/art97/phe rom.html2)VNO websitehttp//neuro.fsu.edu/ query/vomer.htm3)Science Frontiers articlehttp//www.science-frontiers.com/sf090/sf090b06.htm4)Chemical Communication by Willam C. Agosta5) Olfactory Receptors, Vomeronasal Receptors, and the Organization of Olfactory Information. From Cell, a journal6)Howard Hughes olfactory website http//www.hhmi.org/senses/d220.html7)Article from The Scientisthttp//euclid.ucsd.edu/weinrich/theScientist2.html8)Pheromone Book Reviewhttp//www.cogsci.soton.ac.uk/psyc-bin/newpsy?7.12Additional SourcesMessages sent done sweathttp//www.patscan.ca//sweat.html