PHEROMONES: 'THE SCENT OF EROS'
We have seen hundreds of peacocks dancing with its beautiful feathers wide open. It’s not just because it’s raining or the peacock is happy; it is actually trying to attract its partner for mating. There are different kinds of actions, different modes of attraction in each kind of species to attract its partner. One such is PHEROMONES. These are something which you can’t see, which you can’t feel, which you can’t smell. But yes; there presence adds an essence to your life.
The word ‘Pheromone’ is from the Greek words pherein, which means to bring or to transfer, and hormone, which means to excite. Most studied pheromones are volatile smells but other is transferred by direct skin-to-skin contact. Pheromones are primarily present in the skin and the glands of skin, in saliva, urine, and vaginal liquids. (Cohn 1994).
These pheromones are actually a special kind of chemical messengers emitted by any species which will evoke responses in another individual of the same species. The scientists have studied the existence of pheromones extensively in insects, but higher organisms like pigs and elephants may also emit pheromones. It is now known that, human beings also do emit pheromones, though not scientifically proved. In past fifty decades, thousands of insects have been chemically elucidated for the structure, composition, function and the capacity of these ‘magical messengers’.
ALARM PHEROMONES: Bees use isopentyl acetate as an alarm signal. The ‘Guard Bees’ will raise their abdomen and emit the pheromones and these pheromones are transmitted by beating their wings faster and continuous. This will make the entire bee hive aware of the incoming threat. When a bee stings a target, these pheromones are deposited on the spot along with the venom which encourages the other bees to attack the target, stinging at the same place. Since the pheromones used here are for alarming signals, they are generally called “alarm pheromones”.
TRAIL PHEROMONES: Ants extensively use pheromones. When ants return to their nest with the food, they lay down a “trail pheromone”. This trail attracts and guides other ants to the food. By chance, if the train is cut off in between, by a chalk or some powder etc., the ants will get totally confused. They start wandering randomly or they return in the opposite direction.
QUEEN MANDIBULAR PHEROMONES: Have you ever seen any ‘Queen Bee’ working?! No. She never does. Honey bee queens always literally are surrounded by a retinue of worker bees. This is mainly because of the pheromones emitted by the queen bees from their mandibular glands. These pheromones are actually mixture of alcohols and organic acids. These pheromones will
· Induce the worker bees to feed and groom the queen bee
· Inhibit the worker bees from building queen cells and rearing new queens
· Inhibit ovary development in the worker bees.
Other than this, the pheromones are also found in many other insects like silkworm moths (from which they were first isolated), different species of spiders, millipedes, the turnip moths, gypsy moths, Japanese beetles and a variety of parasitic and symbiotic beetles. The complex but primitive single celled amoeba Dictyostelium also uses a pheromone to attract others of its kind and follow reproduction.
But the most amazing fact is; Pheromones also exist in human beings. Scientists have proved that these Pheromones act as ‘sex attractants’ in human beings. Scientists at the Chemical Senses Center in Philadelphia, and its counterpart in France, discovered what they came to realize are human pheromones. These chemicals were found in a decidedly unsexy substance: Human Sweat. These scientists isolated a pure pheromone compound called-Androstenone (ALPHA ANDROST-16-EN-3 ONE). In human men, more pheromones are secreted in the sweat. But it is usually washed off because it is considered that it is an unpleasant way to meet a woman with a sweaty body. The irony lies here! We take shower and clean off the natural ‘Scent of Eros’ and we apply loads of artificial fragrances and perfumes which are in fact useless and also harmful to our health.
The pheromones do not only increase sexual interactions. They help to increase the bondage between the mother and the child. Many pheromones are air borne particles that pass through air after evaporation by the heat of the body. Some pheromones are heavy proteins that cannot be passed through the air by evaporation. These are passed by physical contact such as by kissing or skin-to-skin contact. Kissing occurs in all human cultures and is a way of passing identification pheromones. When a mother kisses her baby, this increases the mother-baby bonding.
But a strange thing is, these pheromones are found in almost all living organisms, starting from a single celled amoeba to complex species like pigs, goat and also human beings. But these pheromones are not identified in any of the birds. Till now many of the birds have been studied for their pheromonal existence, but the researchers have got no results out of it. But still sexual interactions take place in them too by other means. The nature is a secret and a unique designer.
In my next article I am going to speak about the Research going on in this field and the advantages of these pheromones and also how these pheromones are recognised in human beings.
We have seen hundreds of peacocks dancing with its beautiful feathers wide open. It’s not just because it’s raining or the peacock is happy; it is actually trying to attract its partner for mating. There are different kinds of actions, different modes of attraction in each kind of species to attract its partner. One such is PHEROMONES. These are something which you can’t see, which you can’t feel, which you can’t smell. But yes; there presence adds an essence to your life.
The word ‘Pheromone’ is from the Greek words pherein, which means to bring or to transfer, and hormone, which means to excite. Most studied pheromones are volatile smells but other is transferred by direct skin-to-skin contact. Pheromones are primarily present in the skin and the glands of skin, in saliva, urine, and vaginal liquids. (Cohn 1994).
These pheromones are actually a special kind of chemical messengers emitted by any species which will evoke responses in another individual of the same species. The scientists have studied the existence of pheromones extensively in insects, but higher organisms like pigs and elephants may also emit pheromones. It is now known that, human beings also do emit pheromones, though not scientifically proved. In past fifty decades, thousands of insects have been chemically elucidated for the structure, composition, function and the capacity of these ‘magical messengers’.
ALARM PHEROMONES: Bees use isopentyl acetate as an alarm signal. The ‘Guard Bees’ will raise their abdomen and emit the pheromones and these pheromones are transmitted by beating their wings faster and continuous. This will make the entire bee hive aware of the incoming threat. When a bee stings a target, these pheromones are deposited on the spot along with the venom which encourages the other bees to attack the target, stinging at the same place. Since the pheromones used here are for alarming signals, they are generally called “alarm pheromones”.
TRAIL PHEROMONES: Ants extensively use pheromones. When ants return to their nest with the food, they lay down a “trail pheromone”. This trail attracts and guides other ants to the food. By chance, if the train is cut off in between, by a chalk or some powder etc., the ants will get totally confused. They start wandering randomly or they return in the opposite direction.
QUEEN MANDIBULAR PHEROMONES: Have you ever seen any ‘Queen Bee’ working?! No. She never does. Honey bee queens always literally are surrounded by a retinue of worker bees. This is mainly because of the pheromones emitted by the queen bees from their mandibular glands. These pheromones are actually mixture of alcohols and organic acids. These pheromones will
· Induce the worker bees to feed and groom the queen bee
· Inhibit the worker bees from building queen cells and rearing new queens
· Inhibit ovary development in the worker bees.
Other than this, the pheromones are also found in many other insects like silkworm moths (from which they were first isolated), different species of spiders, millipedes, the turnip moths, gypsy moths, Japanese beetles and a variety of parasitic and symbiotic beetles. The complex but primitive single celled amoeba Dictyostelium also uses a pheromone to attract others of its kind and follow reproduction.
But the most amazing fact is; Pheromones also exist in human beings. Scientists have proved that these Pheromones act as ‘sex attractants’ in human beings. Scientists at the Chemical Senses Center in Philadelphia, and its counterpart in France, discovered what they came to realize are human pheromones. These chemicals were found in a decidedly unsexy substance: Human Sweat. These scientists isolated a pure pheromone compound called-Androstenone (ALPHA ANDROST-16-EN-3 ONE). In human men, more pheromones are secreted in the sweat. But it is usually washed off because it is considered that it is an unpleasant way to meet a woman with a sweaty body. The irony lies here! We take shower and clean off the natural ‘Scent of Eros’ and we apply loads of artificial fragrances and perfumes which are in fact useless and also harmful to our health.
The pheromones do not only increase sexual interactions. They help to increase the bondage between the mother and the child. Many pheromones are air borne particles that pass through air after evaporation by the heat of the body. Some pheromones are heavy proteins that cannot be passed through the air by evaporation. These are passed by physical contact such as by kissing or skin-to-skin contact. Kissing occurs in all human cultures and is a way of passing identification pheromones. When a mother kisses her baby, this increases the mother-baby bonding.
But a strange thing is, these pheromones are found in almost all living organisms, starting from a single celled amoeba to complex species like pigs, goat and also human beings. But these pheromones are not identified in any of the birds. Till now many of the birds have been studied for their pheromonal existence, but the researchers have got no results out of it. But still sexual interactions take place in them too by other means. The nature is a secret and a unique designer.
In my next article I am going to speak about the Research going on in this field and the advantages of these pheromones and also how these pheromones are recognised in human beings.
6 comments:
Sree.. excellent information!!:) i was totally unaware!!!Great going dear.....Keep giving us gyaan lik dis... this mit seem and may be found everywer in net, but lazy people[:P]won generally go lukin for it!...
These pheromones are indeed super biomolecules...!!
Hey Sri, too good info dear.. keep going. but are these scientifically proved in human beings?!! and can it be quantized by any means?! and any medicinal importance of these?
Hi Kee,
Thanks for the encouragement. Yes these are quite good biomolecules. Ull know more in my upcoming articles about them.
Hi Neha, Yes their existence is scientifically proved in human beings. But as far i know they cant be quantized. But Let me find out for you. Yes they do have medicinal importance. will write about it in my future articles. keep reading.
Very nice and an informative article.. Keep going. Uve mentioned 3 types of pheromones. Amazing ones. no doubt. My doubt is, is there any way by which all the three functions of three individual type of pheromone can be mixed to create a new type of pheromone which is more powerful and useful than all the other?!
Good question. But m afraid, its highly difficult to do that though not impossible. But dont you think we should let it be as it is.. why alter every single thing available in nature?! Combining all the 3 functions in a single pheromone would be bit difficult. No such attempt are made by any of the scientists in the world yet.
Post a Comment