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Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America logoLink to Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
. 1986 Jun;83(12):4576–4579. doi: 10.1073/pnas.83.12.4576

Promotion of the Whitten effect in female mice by synthetic analogs of male urinary constituents.

B Jemiolo, S Harvey, M Novotny
PMCID: PMC323778  PMID: 3459193

Abstract

Two volatile constituents of male mouse urine, 2-(sec-butyl)-4,5-dihydrothiazole and dehydro-exo-brevicomin, were synthesized and tested for their ability to induce estrous cycle in female mice (the Whitten effect). The suppression of ovarian cycling activity that resulted from grouping the females was abolished by exposure to normal male urine. The synthetic compounds, when added together in appropriate concentrations to the (previously inactive) urine of castrated males, or even to water, were found to be as effective as normal male urine. The action of the synthetic compounds appears attenuated for singly caged females.

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Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

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