Abstract
Preputial gland is one of the prime sources of pheromones in rats. The study on pheromone identification in preputial gland is well established in laboratory rat, house rat and voles. But the study was lacking in the preputial gland of bandicoot rats. Hence, the present investigation was aimed to identify the volatile and protein profiles of preputial gland of male bandicoot rat. Gas chromatography and mass spectrometry (GC-MS) profiles revealed the presence of 47 volatile compounds in the preputial gland. More specifically, the farnesol was found to be a major compound in the preputial gland which is consistent with previous reports in the preputial gland of few other rodents. The histoarchitecture results showed that the preputial gland of male exhibited more acini cells. The protein profiles of preputial gland showed 12 prominent bands in coomassie brilliant blue stained gel. The low molecular mass protein, 19 kDa has been identified as gamma-amino butyric acid type B receptor subunit I (GABAβ receptor) by MALDI-ToF analysis. Further, to the best our knowledge, this is the first time we explored the absence of alpha 2u globulin in the 19 kDa band of preputial gland of bandicoot rat. This is in contrast to the presence of alpha 2u globulin in the preputial gland of laboratory rat (Rattus norvegicus) as well as house rat (Rattus rattus). The present study concludes that among the volatiles and protein analysis performed in the preputial gland, farnesol appears to be a prominent compound and the GABAβ receptor protein was identified in 19 kDa band in bandicoot rats.
Highlights
Animals release their pheromones through the secretory and excretory products
A well-developed preputial gland was observed in bandicoot rat and each gland was 2.85-3.2 cm in length, 1.5 – 2.1cm in width and weighed about 3.5 – 4.32 g
Gas chromatography and mass spectrometry (GC-MS) results showed the presence of 47 compounds (Fig.2; Table 1) in the preputial gland
Summary
Animals release their pheromones through the secretory and excretory products The excretory products such as faeces and urine are the major pheromone sources. Most of the secretory glands are modified sebaceous glands and are reported as pheromone secretors in animals. They release sebum to outside the body that acts as a transporter of pheromones [36]. Preputial gland is reported as a modified sebaceous gland and actively releases the pheromones [2, 30]. It is located in the prepuce of the male rat the name preputial gland. Preputial gland odours play several significant functions such as mother-young interaction for the survival of the young during their prepubertal stage [7, 8, 9], for individual identification [42, 43], sex attraction [13, 20, 44] and evocation of aggression after maturity [28]
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