title: Repetitive olfactory exposure to the biologically significant steroid androstadienone causes a hedonic shift and gender dimorphic changes in olfactory-evoked potentials.
abstract: The function of a sensory system is to transduce and relay sensory information in a constant and reproducible manner. However, in the olfactory processing of certain steroids this precept of sensory constancy does not appear to apply. Using threshold testing, psychometrics, and electrophysiological techniques, we investigated the effects of a repetitive exposure protocol on the response to androstadienone. Androstadienone is a steroid found in human secretions that has been widely proposed as a candidate for a human pheromone. The detection threshold, hedonic perception, and evoked potential response all changed following repetitive exposure to androstadienone and not to a control odorant, benzaldehyde. Furthermore, the exposure-dependent changes in evoked potentials exhibited a gender dimorphism in which there were changes in the later components of the evoked potentials specific to women. These components have been associated with cognitive and perceptual operations. This 'learning' to smell a compound found in sweat may be related to biological signaling.
authors.affiliation: School of Biosciences, Cardiff University, Cardiff, UK.
authors.forename: Nassima
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Boulkroune
authors.forename: Liwei
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Amy
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: March
authors.forename: Natalie
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Walker
authors.forename: Tim J C
authors.initials: TJ
authors.lastname: Jacob
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D000730:Androstadienes / Q000494:pharmacology*; D004569:Electroencephalography; D005071:Evoked Potentials / Q000187:drug effects*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009812:Odorants; D009833:Olfactory Pathways / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology; D011594:Psychometrics; D012684:Sensory Thresholds / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000502:physiology; D012727:Sex Characteristics; D012903:Smell / Q000187:drug effects*
chemical_list: D000730:Androstadienes