Abstract
We report the volatile composition of the body scent of male C57BL/6J mice in comparison to the volatile composition of their urine. From a total of 67 components, nitromethane, propanoic acid, dimethyldisulfide, 1-octene, 1-hexanol, hexanoic acid, indole, α- and β-farnesene, and one unidentified component were observed only in the volatiles from the body of mice. On the other hand, 3-penten-2-one, 3-methyl-2-buten-1-ol, 3-methyl-cyclopentanone, p-xylene, 3-hepten-2-one, 2,3-dehydro-exo-brevicomin, benzylmethylketone, and 13 unidentified components were only found in urine volatiles. All other substances were present in the volatiles of both mice and their urine. Aliphatic aldehydes from pentanal to decanal were prominent mouse odor components. Because receptors for these aldehydes have been extensively characterized in the main olfactory organ, these components may be important for mice in recognizing their conspecifics.
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Acknowledgments
We thank Dr. H. Mossman (Freiburg) for providing mice, K.Mori (Tokyo), C. Mucignat (Padova), and P. Landolt (Wapato, Wa) for donating standards, and Dr. J. Kopka (Berlin) for help in the interpretation of mass spectra. Helpful suggestions by Dr. M. Wandel and Prof. K.P. Hadeler and technical help by A. Hohneder and B. Pömmerl are gratefully acknowledged. P.O. thanks the Max-Planck-Gesellschaft for generous support.
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The measurements refer to the analysis of mouse body odor or urine volatiles, respectively, for C57BL/6J mice (wild type), germ-free or matching C57BL/6 mice raised under specific-pathogen-free (SPF) conditions. Mice used for the experiments have been serially numbered (mouse #). The spectra have been designated as indicated (spectrum #).
The table shows the relative total ion current for all components defined by their substance number and retention time (see Table 1). The plus (+) refers to the detection of characteristic fragments for the respective component.
Table 1
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Röck, F., Mueller, S., Weimar, U. et al. Comparative Analysis of Volatile Constituents from Mice and their Urine. J Chem Ecol 32, 1333–1346 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10886-006-9091-2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10886-006-9091-2