Influence of gender and culture on the perception of acidic compounds of human body odor

Ferdenzi, Camille; Razafindrazaka, Harilanto; Baldovini, Nicolas; Poupon, Daphnée; Pierron, Denis; Bensafi, Moustafa

doi:10.1016/j.physbeh.2019.112561

Cited by 19 publications

(31 citation statements)

References 55 publications

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“…Indeed, androstenone is rated as more pleasant by women who had a sexual intercourse experience with at least one partner, compared to those who reported never had sexual intercourse. Finally, the unique study comparing the hedonic perception of androstenone in relation to gender ( Ferdenzi et al, 2019 ) found no sex differences for any of the perceptual variables, including pleasantness.…”

Section: Sex Differences In Healthy Populations: Body Odorsmentioning

confidence: 93%

“…More recently ( Seubert et al, 2009 ), the pleasant vanillin odor was rated as more pleasant by women compared to men whereas no difference was observed for the unpleasant hydrogen sulfide odor as well as for eugenol, a bimodal pleasant/unpleasant odor. In addition, it has been shown that men assessed patchouli oil as more pleasant than women ( Trellakis et al, 2011 ) and women assessed phenyl ethyl alcohol as more pleasant than men ( Ferdenzi et al, 2019 ). Interestingly, in hyposmic populations, no sex difference was observed before treatment whereas after treatment (theophylline) women assessed pyridine and thiphene as more unpleasant than men ( Henkin, 2018 ).…”

Section: Sex Differences In Healthy Populations: Non-specific Odorsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Sex Differences in Odor Hedonic Perception: An Overview

2021

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Odor hedonic evaluation (pleasant/unpleasant) is considered as the first and one of the most prominent dimension in odor perception. While sex differences in human olfaction have been extensively explored, gender effect in hedonic perception appears to be less considered. However, a number of studies have included comparisons between men and women, using different types of measurements (psychophysical, psychophysiological,…). This overview presents experimental works with non-specific and body odors separately presented as well as experimental studies comparing healthy participants vs patients with psychiatric disorders. Contrary to sensitivity, identification or discrimination, the overall literature tends to prove that no so clear differences occur in odor hedonic judgment between men and women. On the whole, gender effect appears more marked for body than non-specific odors and is almost never reported in psychiatric diseases. These findings are discussed in relation to the processes classically implied in pleasantness rating and emotional processes.

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Section: Sex Differences In Healthy Populations: Body Odorsmentioning

confidence: 93%

Section: Sex Differences In Healthy Populations: Non-specific Odorsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Sex Differences in Odor Hedonic Perception: An Overview

2021

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“…Although 3M2H is only one of ~120 compounds [ 22 ] that comprise body odor, it is an “impact odor”, meaning that it carries the characteristic scent of body odor [ 23 ]. Furthermore, almost 25% of the population has a specific anosmia to 3M2H [ 23 – 26 ], but this anosmia has not been connected to any olfactory receptor. Identifying receptors responsible for perception of 3M2H and body odor may have implications for social communication, malodor prevention, and receptor coding mechanisms for conspecific odors.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

From musk to body odor: Decoding olfaction through genetic variation

Kamarck

Peng

et al. 2022

PLoS Genet

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The olfactory system combines input from multiple receptor types to represent odor information, but there are few explicit examples relating olfactory receptor (OR) activity patterns to odor perception. To uncover these relationships, we performed genome-wide scans on odor-perception phenotypes for ten odors in 1000 Han Chinese and validated results for six of these odors in an ethnically diverse population (n = 364). In both populations, consistent with previous studies, we replicated three previously reported associations (β-ionone/OR5A1, androstenone/OR7D4, cis-3-hexen-1-ol/OR2J3 LD-band), but not for odors containing aldehydes, suggesting that olfactory phenotype/genotype studies are robust across populations. Two novel associations between an OR and odor perception contribute to our understanding of olfactory coding. First, we found a SNP in OR51B2 that associated with trans-3-methyl-2-hexenoic acid, a key component of human underarm odor. Second, we found two linked SNPs associated with the musk Galaxolide in a novel musk receptor, OR4D6, which is also the first human OR shown to drive specific anosmia to a musk compound. We noticed that SNPs detected for odor intensity were enriched with amino acid substitutions, implying functional changes of odor receptors. Furthermore, we also found that the derived alleles of the SNPs tend to be associated with reduced odor intensity, supporting the hypothesis that the primate olfactory gene repertoire has degenerated over time. This study provides information about coding for human body odor, and gives us insight into broader mechanisms of olfactory coding, such as how differential OR activation can converge on a similar percept.

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“…Recently, Ferdenzi et al showed a large interindividual variability of sensitivity to major constituents of human axillary odor 3-hydroxy-3-methylhexanoic acid (HMHA) and (E)-3-methylhex-2-enoic acid (3MHA) within two populations. Prevalence of anosmia was determined as 8% and 19% for HMHA in France and Madagascar respectively, and 25% for 3MHA in France (Ferdenzi et al, 2019). If there is any linkage between specific anosmias to body odor compounds and their involvement into human social communication, still remains to be elucidated.…”

Section: Specific Anosmia In Humans and Animals: Environmental And Gementioning

confidence: 99%

Specific anosmia in humans and animals: Environmental and genetic influences

Klyuchnikova¹,

Voznessenskaya²

2019

Ukr J Ecol

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Olfaction plays a very important role across the lifespan of most mammalian species, including humans. Being the oldest, chemical communication is one of the least understood forms of communication due in part to the difficulty of detecting and measuring the chemicals in a sample. The ability to detect chemicals in the environment serves many functions. Individuals with specific anosmia, or “odor blindness”, have significantly increased olfactory thresholds to particular odorants though they show normal general olfactory acuity. Hereby we review research on specific anosmia in humans, factors that may affect individual variation in olfaction as well as animal models of specific anosmia. Variability in sensitivity to odorants is influenced by genotype, age, gender, individual olfactory experience and environmental cues. Large data pile from human and animal studies suggests that not all factors are determined yet. The possibility of induction of olfactory sensitivity to biologically relevant chemical cues is discussed. Olfactory plasticity determines the adaptability of the species to the environment. Mechanisms that underlie the induction of sensitivity to the odorants still to be elucidated.

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Influence of gender and culture on the perception of acidic compounds of human body odor

Cited by 19 publications

References 55 publications

Sex Differences in Odor Hedonic Perception: An Overview

Sex Differences in Odor Hedonic Perception: An Overview

From musk to body odor: Decoding olfaction through genetic variation

Specific anosmia in humans and animals: Environmental and genetic influences

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