Physiological Effects of Androstadienone Exposure

The reason for doing this research is to understand why different people show different responses when they smell an odor called androstadienone. Androstadienone is a chemical found in male sweat. Other studies have shown that smelling this chemical can cause people to experience sweating, changes in skin temperature, and changes in a stress hormone call cortisol. These responses, which are called "physiological effects," are stronger in some people than in others. We are interested in finding out whether these individual differences are genetic, that is caused by differences in our genes. Humans have about 1000 genes for odorant receptors. These are the molecules that bind and detect odor molecules in our nose and allow us to respond to so many different odors. It has been shown that some of these genes exist in two forms: a functional one and one that has been mutated and is therefore no longer functional. We think that people who do not respond to a specific odor may carry the non-functional form of the gene for the receptor that detects the odor molecule. To test this idea we want to find people who respond strongly to a specific smell, and compare their odorant receptor genes with those of people who respond weakly to the odor.