Abstract
Previous studies of VNO size have primarily sought to compare the magnitude of VNO function (via a presumed link between VNO size and receptor population) among vertebrate species (Dawley, 1998) and sexes (Dawley and Crowder, 1995; Weiler et al., 1999). A few have sought to determine whether the structure degenerates or persists in humans. These studies have described a continuous increase in prenatal VNO anteroposterior length and epithelial volume (Smith et al., 1996, 1997; Sherwood et al., 1999), especially during the late second and third trimesters (Smith et al., 1997). A comparison of prenatal VNO data with the same measures in adults indicates that some postnatal growth, of variable magnitude, occurs during postnatal human ontogeny (Smith et al., 1998; Bhatnagar and Smith, in preparation). Although these studies have established that the human VNO does not degenerate (prenatally or postnatally), no studies have attempted to determine the magnitude of human VNO growth via a comparison to other species.
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Smith, T.D., Mooney, M.P., Burrows, A.M., Bhatnagar, K.P., Siegel, M.I. (2001). Prenatal Growth and Adult Size of the Vomeronasal Organ in Mouse Lemurs and Humans. In: Marchlewska-Koj, A., Lepri, J.J., Müller-Schwarze, D. (eds) Chemical Signals in Vertebrates 9. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4615-0671-3_12
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