Odours human axillary

Human axillary odour has biological activity involving steroidal compounds 2., but it also contains 5. — the noxious (E) isomer of 3-methyl-2-hexanoic acid (E-3M2H) — whose threshold is considerably less than that of the (Z)-isomer. 

Xu, Y., Dixon, S. J., Brereton, R. G., Soini, H. A., Novotny, M. V., Trebesius, K., Bergmaier, I., Oberzaucher, E., Grammer, K., Penn, D. J. Metabolomics 3,2007,421-dSl. Comparison of human axillary odour profiles obtained by gas chromatography/mass spectrometry and skin microbial profiles obtained by denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis using... 

HUMAN AXILLARY ODOURS AND SEXUAL SELECTION THEORY AND DATA... 

Rennie, P.J., Gower, D.B. Holland, K.T. 1991. In-vitro and in-vivo studies of human axillary odour and the cutaneous microflora. Brit. J. Dermatol, 124, 596-602. 

Evidence has been accumulating that extracellular metabolic activity of microorganisms, mainly bacteria, occurs within skin glands and on the skin surface (Albone, 1997). Sterile human apocrine secretions do not develop the characteristic axillary odour (Shelley et al., 1953). In the salivary secretions of the boar, transformations of the pheromonal 16-androstene steroids 2. were attributed to the microbial flora (Booth, 1987). 

Abstract Human body odour is individually specific and several lines of evidence suggest that to some extent it is under genetic control. There are however numerous other sources of variation, commonly labelled as environmental factors, which are the main aim of this paper. These include 1) reproductive status, 2) emotional state, 3) diet and 4) diseases. We primarily focus on axillary and genital odours as they have been proposed to have communicative function. We prelusively conclude that a specific diet and some diseases have major impact on variations in human body odour. 

Axillary odour might not be the only olfactory cue to women s reproductive status. Due to the cyclic fluctuations in composition of vaginal secretion one may expect similar changes in vaginal odour. This was demonstrated thirty years ago by Doty, Ford, Preti and Huggins (1975). However, as we have suggested previously, we believe that due to bipedality the axillary odour is of higher importance in humans (Havlicek et al. 2006). 

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