Interaction between chemical senses

8 Interaction between chemical senses 5.8.1 Olfaction-vomeronasal organ interaction 

Male mice learn about female cues. In the presence of females, a male emits ultrasonic vocalizations. These vocalizations become less frequent after extirpation of the VNO. The more experience a male has had with females, the smaller the deficit he suffers. The learning is mediated by interaction between the main olfactory system and the accessory olfactory system after vomeronasal deprivation, olfactory cues maintain the behavior (Wysocki etal., 1986). 

Odorants and tastants in foods interact in complicated ways. For instance, strawberry odor enhances the sweetness of whipped cream, while peanut butter odor does not, and strawberry odor did not enhance the saltiness of sodium chloride (Frank and Byram, 1988). 

The best investigated odor-taste interactions occur in conditioned flavor aversions. Tastes that precede a delayed food-related illness are often avoided after only one experience. Odors are not avoided under similar conditions. However, if taste and odor are presented together before the malaise, animals will avoid odor when encountered later by itself. Taste affects odor, but not vice versa. If only the taste intensity is increased, both taste and odor aversion increase. Conversely, if only the odor stimulus is increased, only the odor aversion increases (Garcia etal, 1986). 

An interaction between main olfaction and the trigeminal somatosensory system has been proposed to facilitate directional smelling. For carbon dioxide and menthol, human subjects were able to tell the odor direction in 96% of cases, while the results for hydrogen sulfide and vanillin were random (Kobal et ah, 1989). Rats can discriminate odor direction in one sniff (Rajan et ah, 2006). 

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Chapron J, Alekseev SA, Lysenko V, Zaitsev VN, Barbier D (2007) Analysis of interaction between chemical agents and porous Si nanostructures using optical sensing properties of infra-red Rugate filters. Sens Actuators B 120 706-711... 

Tan CK, Blackwood DJ (2000) Interactions between polyanUine and methanol vapour. Sens Actuators B 71 184-191 Thomas SW III, Joly GD, Swager TM (2006) Chemical sensors based on amplifying fluorescent conjugated polymers. Mater Sci Eng R 52 49-91... 

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