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p-Cresol: A Sex Pheromone Component Identified from the Estrous Urine of Mares

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Abstract

Previously it was shown that m- and p-cresols in the urine of mares exhibits a temporally reproducible pattern that is dependent on ovarian activity and, thus, provides information about the timing of ovulation. New behavioral data demonstrate 1) that stallions spend significantly more time sniffing p-cresol as compared to o-, and m-cresols, and, 2) that the extent of stallions’ erections differ significantly in response to different types of samples. The lowest erection level was recorded for the pure-water control, a moderate erection level was elicited by the urine of diestrous mares, and the highest erection level was elicited by urine of a diestrous mare containing synthetic p-cresol at a quantity equivalent to half of the amount of p-cresol found in the urine of estrous mares. Consequently, p-cresol is at least one of the components of a horse sex pheromone.

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Acknowledgments

This study was supported by Lithuanian State Science and Studies Foundation grant No T-04213 and by the grant CTS10:313 from Carl Tryggers Foundation, Sweden. We thank Mr. Stasys Svetlauskas for providing excellent conditions to carry out behavioral tests at theVilnius stud-farm.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Centre for Ecology and Environmental Studies, Faculty of Natural Sciences, Vilnius University, 03101, Vilnius, Lithuania

    Vincas Būda

  2. Laboratory of Chemical and Behavioral Ecology, Institute of Ecology, Nature Research Center, 08412, Vilnius, Lithuania

    Vincas Būda & Raimondas Mozūraitis

  3. Ecological Chemistry Group, Division of Organic Chemistry, Department of Chemistry, School of Chemistry and Engineering, Royal Institute of Technology, Teknikringen 36, 10044, Stockholm, Sweden

    Raimondas Mozūraitis & Anna-Karin Borg-Karlson

  4. Institute of Animal Science, Lithuanian University of Health Sciences, 82317, Baisogala, Radviliškis distr, Lithuania

    Jonas Kutra

Authors
  1. Vincas Būda
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  2. Raimondas Mozūraitis
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  3. Jonas Kutra
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  4. Anna-Karin Borg-Karlson
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Correspondence to Raimondas Mozūraitis.

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Būda, V., Mozūraitis, R., Kutra, J. et al. p-Cresol: A Sex Pheromone Component Identified from the Estrous Urine of Mares. J Chem Ecol 38, 811–813 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10886-012-0138-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10886-012-0138-2

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