Talk:Vomeronasal organ

Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment
This article is or was the subject of a Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment. Further details are available on the course page. Student editor(s): Newmansr, Megamanhuy.

Above undated message substituted from Template:Dashboard.wikiedu.org assignment by PrimeBOT (talk) 12:33, 17 January 2022 (UTC)

Contradictory statements
These two statements are quite contradictory:

Although some scientists believe the vomeronasal organ is specialized for detection of pheromones, some pheromones are detected by the regular olfactory organ, and the vomeronasal organ detects other compounds in addition to pheromones. Thus, its function is still somewhat mysterious.

In humans it is nonfunctional and regresses before birth, as is the case with some other animals, including cetaceans, some bats, and apes. In adult humans there is no neural connection between the organ and the brain.

-- EmperorBMA / &#12502;&#12522;&#12452;&#12450;&#12531; 22:39, 29 Mar 2004 (UTC)


 * They're not contradictory unless you assume the first applies to humans, cetaceans, some bats and apes. As opposed to, say, cats. - Nunh-huh 22:43, 29 Mar 2004 (UTC)


 * Ah. Nevertheless, some scientists believe that it is functional in adult humans, so I reworded it to say such and to say it less ambiguously (in my eyes). -- EmperorBMA / &#12502;&#12522;&#12452;&#12450;&#12531; 18:44, 30 Mar 2004 (UTC)


 * I re-re-worded it so it includes a discussion of the VMO's role in organisms in which it's important. Humans are, in this case, a footnote, not the main story. - Nunh-huh 19:17, 30 Mar 2004 (UTC)


 * Cool, I added a few more notes and it seems balanced. -- EmperorBMA / &#12502;&#12522;&#12452;&#12450;&#12531; 20:22, 30 Mar 2004 (UTC)


 * According to my anatomy prof in med school, as well as my comparative anatomy textbook, humans have no vomeronasal organ, so the question of whether it's functional or not in adult humans is sort of moot according to those sources. I did dissect my cadaver carefully and checked about 15 others; no sign of anything that could be a vomeronasal organ.  It might be worth citing the scientists who believe that adult humans have a functioning VO.  -Ikkyu2 08:11, 29 August 2005 (UTC)


 * I think that this whole debate has kind of been sidelined by newer findings. Now that VNO receptor types have been discovered in the main olfactory epithelium, and olfactory types in the accessory olfactory epithelium, it's clear that the functions of the two organs may overlap, and whether or not humans have a VNO is a different question from whether they can react in a complex, mammalian way to pheromones (there's a fair amount of evidence supporting the second).

Also, am I the only one who feels that the current text thoroughly confuses the receptors -- proteins on the AO neurons' surface -- with the neurons themselves? I haven't made any changes because I don't have time to footnote; I'll try to get to it if nobody else does before I get the chance. Chiacchiakb (talk) 15:57, 3 July 2008 (UTC)User:chiacchiakb 15:57, 3 Jul 2008 (UTC)

What is the origin?
What is the embryonic origin of this organ? Where does it come from? They eyes starts as some bulbs from the brain, but what about Vomeronasal organ?

A: It develops from the nasal (olfactory) placode. I added that to the article, which I also rearranged to improve flow. I also straightened out information at the end that erroneously implied that the potential existence of the organ in humans is a matter of "belief". It's a matter of data, and most (possibly all) of the peer-reviewed data say humans don't have one. Which makes sense, since the other apes don't have one either.

Reference required
"Trotier et al. estimated that around 92% of their subjects that had no septal surgery had at least one intact VNO."

This information can not be retraced to the introductory article that is referenced below. It requires verification, proper citation, or deletion.

Nerusai (talk) 13:58, 13 February 2009 (UTC)

On the 'In humans' section
Having had to retrace some missing references for a friend, it seems this whole section is misguided and perhaps even downright wrong.

There is no vomeronasal organ in humans, there are remnants of it: the vomeronasal structure. It however is functionless.

The part of the article would be more clear if it reflected that the vomeronasal organ 'regresses' (such a weird word to describe this also) into the vomeronasal structure, which is vestigal remnant of the vomeronasal organ in humans.

Additionally I was completely unable to retrace this '92%' in Trotier's work (It was at the very least unavailable at general article sites such as Elsevier's ScienceDirect and PubMed etc.) Some work I did come across of Trotier [1] actually claims the opposite.

[1] Trotier, D., Eloit, C., Wassef, M., Talmain, G., Bensimon, J.L., Doving, K.B., Ferrand, J. (2000). The Vomeronasal Cavity in Adult Humans. ''Chem. Senses, 25'', 369-380.

Nerusai (talk) 14:29, 13 February 2009 (UTC)

Addition for Snake in the Animal section
The Wiki page of the structure has a great amount of information already. However, there is only one sentence about how snakes use the vomeronasal organ and it's not even cited. I'll look for sources to add to that and expand more on that section if possible. Since I'm going to dissect a garter snake, I'm planning to add an image of the organ from my project as well. Is that possible? The listed sources below can be used in my projects:

Bauchot, Roland (1994). Snakes A Natural History. Spain: Sterling Publishing. pp. 52–56. ISBN 0806906545.

Mattison, Christopher (2007). The New Encyclopedia of Snakes. Princeton University Press. p. 44. ISBN 9780691132952.

Parker, H. (1977). Snakes - A Natural History. Cornell University Press. p. 28. ISBN 0801491649.

Megamanhuy (talk) 04:10, 11 March 2017 (UTC)
 * @ that sounds great. Please insert this information in an "Other animals" section and, as you state, provide some sources to help verify the information. Let me know if you need any further help, --Tom (LT) (talk) 01:47, 12 March 2017 (UTC)
 * @ Do I have to make a new section or just editing the current information under the "Animals" section? There is no "Other animals" section in the article at all Megamanhuy (talk) 19:12, 15 March 2017 (UTC)

Other vertebrates section
I added some information about the vomeronasal organ of the garter snake under the "Other vertebrates" section along with a picture taken from my lab as well. Please let me know how it sounds and looks overall.Megamanhuy (talk) 20:34, 5 May 2017 (UTC)

The vomeronasal organ been found in the Bulgarian population
Here:

https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/journal-of-laryngology-and-otology/article/vomeronasal-organ-incidence-in-a-bulgarian-population/F6306095CBD96936D8B8FA46B8F70259 86.187.165.188 (talk) 08:57, 6 August 2019 (UTC)

It is active
Mine is. I can selectively fire and also detect pheromones. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 95.146.207.15 (talk) 15:00, 24 March 2020 (UTC)
 * "selectively fire" I am sorry what? 2A00:1370:812D:1FC5:C50E:76A0:3EEE:2D93 (talk) 22:46, 27 November 2020 (UTC)

Some humans do seem to flehmen. Drsruli (talk) 01:36, 26 July 2022 (UTC)