Chemosensory perceptions

Heth G. and Todrank J. (1995). Assessing chemosensory perception in subterranean mole rats different responses to smelling versus touching odorous stimuli. Anim Behav 49, 1009-1015. 

C. Murphy, Aging and chemosensory perception, Front, Oral Physiol, 6, 135 (1987). 

Pause, B.M., Krauel, K., Sojka, B. and Ferstl, R. (1998) Body odor evoked potentials a new method to study the chemosensory perception of self and non-self in humans. Genetica 104, 285-294. 

Hort J., Redureau S., Hollowood T., Marciani L., Eldeghaidy S., Head K., Busch J., SpUler R.C., Francis S., Gowland RA. and Taylor A.J. (2008) The effect of body position on flavor release and perception implications for fMRl studies. Chemosensory Perception 1 253-257. DOI 10.1007/s12078-008-9034-0. 

Ballester, J., Abdi, H., Langlois, J., Peyron, D. and Valentin, D. (2009). The odor of colors Can wine experts and novices distinguish the odors of White, Red, and rosd wines Chemosensory Perception, 2, 203-213. 

Olfaction is very much present and influential in our everyday life and its day-to-day quality [1]. For instance, it has been shown by Delwiche [2] that taste and smell are rated as being the most important sensations in flavor. Thus, olfaction is the key to our relationship with food and in particular plays a major role in identifying it [3]. That is why significant changes in chemosensory perception have the capacity of interacting with aroma perception, diet selection, and to some extent nutritional status [4]. 

Heimbeck G., Bugnon V., Gendre N., Haberlin C. and Stocker R. F. (1999) Smell and taste perception in Drosophila melanogaster larva toxin expression studies in chemosensory neurons. J. Neurosci. 19, 6599-6609. 

The evolutionary transition from water to land has resulted in an expansion of the chemoreceptor genes, most likely in response to the multitude of airborne odorants (Bargmann 2006). Organisms that frequently change between aquatic and terrestrial environments (e.g., amphibians) appear to have chemosensory systems for perception of both water-soluble as well as volatile odorants (Freitag et al. 1995). Soluble and volatile chemicals can also be perceived by aquatic and terrestrial crustaceans, respectively (e.g., Hansson et al., Chap. 8). However, at least in terrestrial peracarids, taste reception of odorants appears to be mediated by liquids (Seelinger 1983 Holdich 1984), just as food-smelling of terrestrial mammals under water is mediated by air bubbles (Catania 2006). 

For lysianassid amphipods Kaufmann (1994) suggested that the aesthetascs are involved in perception of waterborne food stimuli. Apparently, the same basic chemoreceptor design employed in food location (aesthetascs) is also used in mate location. While the role of aesthetascs in chemoreception is unquestioned, there are a number of other structures whose chemosensory role remains speculative or controversial (e.g., Kai m-Malka et al. 1999). At the base of the antennae a few amphipod species have cup-shaped structures termed calceoli, which are most common in males. One of the first studies on chemical communication in peracarids suggested that the calceoli on the 2nd antennae of male Gammarus duebeni are the... 

Yamazaki, K., Beauchamp, G.K., Bard, J., Boyse, E.A. Thomas, L. 1991. Chemosensory identity and immune function in mice. In Chemical Senses. Volume 3. Genetics of Perception and Communications (Ed. by C.J. Wysocki M.R. Kare), pp 211—225. New York Marcel Dekker. 

In the present study chemosensory event-related potentials (CSERP) were used to find objective evidence that body odor and the perception of body odor by females is related to the similarity of the Major Histocompatibility Complex (HLA in humans) of the subject and donor. Ten female subjects were examined three times during the course of their menstrual cycle (follicular, ovulatory and luteal phase). During a test session the responses of subjects to the odors of either three male or three female donors was measured. The HLA types of two donors were similar to each other but different to the HLA type of the test subject and the third donor, who shared a similar HLA type. Chemosensory event-related potentials were recorded from 7 electrode sites on the skull (Fz, Cz, Pz, F3, F4, P3, P4), referred to linked mastoids. Preliminary results show that during the ovulatory cycle phase, subjects responded with larger amplitudes to body odors of male donors with a similar HLA-type than to odors of male donors with a dissimilar HLA-type. When female odors were presented the speed of the neural response changed with the HLA-type of the odor donor during the luteal phase only. 

It is apparent from this brief review that cross-cultural studies of chemosensory function are rather limited in both number and scope. Nonetheless, the available data suggest that considerable uniformity exists across cultures in the perception of tastants and odorants. Thus, the relative identifiability of odorants, as well as their perceived pleasantness, is quite similar among a number of ethnic/cultural groups. Although the Japanese use "umami as a fifth basic taste class, American subjects similarly sort compounds of this class into a separate taste category when not constrained by verbal categories, suggesting they perceive such substances in a similar manner. 

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