Nutrient-dependent / Pheromone-controlled Adaptive Evolution (# 500 in a series)

Note: This blog post is number 500 in a series that started 3 years ago. I’ve maintained this domain as a source for information on Human Pheromones since 1996.

Brain region may hold key to aging May 1, 2013 in Neuroscience

Excerpt: Release of GnRH into the blood is usually associated with reproduction.

My comment: Reproduction is nutrient-dependent and pheromone-controlled. In my model of nutrient-dependent pheromone-controlled adaptive evolution, the epigenetic effects of olfactory/pheromonal input on hypothalamic GnRH pulse frequency and amplitude link ecological, social, neurogenic, and socio-cognitive niche construction (and nutrient stress or social stress) across species from microbes to man (e.g., starting with the control of feedback loops by the “alpha mating” pheromone of ‘brewer’s yeast. Does everyone understand that the production of the pheromones that control the molecular mechanisms of  reproduction in all species is nutrient dependent?

I have the impression that evolutionary theorists think all of the above (and what’s below) is somehow controlled by mutations. Is there a model for that? I first presented my model for the epigenetic effects of olfactory/pheromonal input on aging in 1994. “Olfactory-hormonal relationships in learning, memory, aging, and behavior” at the 2nd Annual Conference on Anti-aging Medicine & Biomedical Technology for the year 2010.

Abstract: The early prenatal migration of gonadotropin releasing hormone (GnRH) neurosecretory neurons appears to enable a neuroendocrine sequence of events that allows human pheromones to influence postnatal GnRH secretion, maturation of the hypothalamic-pituitary-gonadal axis; and, in part, the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis; hormone-dependent synaptogenesis and synaptolysis; neurotransmission; learning; memory; and behavior. That GnRH regulates the collective neural output manifest in reproductive behavior seems consistent with effects of drug therapies that influence the GnRH pulse, and which are used to treat disorders of neuroendocrine and reproductive maturation as well as dysfunctional behaviors. Is the hypothalamic GnRH pulse generator both the biologic and the psychologic core of mammalian reproduction? What is the contribution of extrahypothalamic GnRH? Is there a lack of “hard” scientific evidence for relationships between biologically relevant odors, olfaction, aging, and human behavior?

I presented it again in 1995 as “Olfactory-genetic-neuronal-hormonal reciprocity in learning, memory, behavior and in immune function” at the 3rd Annual Conference on Anti-aging Medicine & Biomedical Technology for the year 2010.

Abstract: A five-step pathway allowing the social environment (“nurture”) to influence the genetic substrates (“nature”) of mammalian behavior is: gene->cell->tissue->organ->organ system. Though there are many environmental influences on the first step of this pathway, odors are the only known social-environmental stimuli that appear to activate gene expression in neurosecretory cells of tissue in the brain an organ that is essential to any
organ system involved in learning, memory, and behavior. Olfaction appears to influence learning, memory, and behavior. Thus, the production and distribution of human odors may link two aspects of our social environment (e.g., olfaction and odors) to the genetic substrates of our behavior through a five-step pathway common to many other vertebrates. Olfactory input influences the gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH)-directed regulation of gonadal and adrenal steroidogenesis. Thus, olfactory deficits associated with aging may be linked to a need for hormone replacement therapy, including dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA). Similarly, olfactory deficits may be linked to immune system function. Many other hormones/neurotransmitters (e.g., melatonin and dopamine) feed back on the GnRH neuronal pathway. This pathway appears to be both the biological and the psychological core of mammalian, including human, behavior. Thus, the influence of odors and olfaction on levels of hormones, including neurotransmitters, may be linked to age-related changes in learning, memory, behavior, and immune system function.

In 1996, co-authors and I published a paper that incorporated this model, which linked it to the development of sexual behavior: From Fertilization to Adult Sexual Behavior.  I mention this only as an example of how long it can take to establish an accurate representation of biologically-based cause and effect in a world where scientifically unsubstantiated theories run rampant.