Linked Life Data

10781026

Source:http://linkedlifedata.com/resource/pubmed/id/10781026

Statements in which the resource exists as a subject.
PredicateObject
rdf:type
lifeskim:mentions
pubmed:issue
2
pubmed:dateCreated
2000-6-21
pubmed:abstractText
We tested the ability of human subjects to distinguish between aliphatic odorants sharing the same number of carbon atoms but differing in their functional groups. 1-Alcohols, n-aldehydes, 2-ketones and n-carboxylic acids of four, six and eight carbon atoms, respectively, were employed. In a forced-choice triangular test procedure 20 subjects were repeatedly presented with 18 odor pairs and asked to identify the bottle containing the odd stimulus. We found (i) that as a group, the subjects performed significantly above chance level in all tasks and thus were clearly able to discriminate between all odor pairs presented; (ii) marked interindividual differences in discrimination performance, ranging from subjects who were able to significantly distinguish between all 18 odor pairs to subjects who failed to do so with 1/3 of the tasks; (iii) a lack of significant differences in performance between male and female, and between Japanese and German subjects; (iv) that odor pairs that involved 2-ketones and/or n-carboxylic acids were significantly easier to discriminate compared to odor pairs that involved 1-alcohols and/or n-aldehydes, and thus a clear dependence of discriminability on type of functional group; and (v) that aliphatic odorants with eight carbon atoms (irrespective of their oxygen moiety) were significantly more difficult to discriminate from each other compared to substances with four or six carbon atoms. The results suggest that functional groups may be an important determinant of the interaction between stimulus molecule and olfactory receptor in aliphatic substances, and thus may be a molecular property affecting odor quality in a substance class-specific manner.
pubmed:language
eng
pubmed:journal
pubmed:citationSubset
IM
pubmed:chemical
pubmed:status
MEDLINE
pubmed:month
Apr
pubmed:issn
0379-864X
pubmed:author
pubmed:issnType
Print
pubmed:volume
25
pubmed:owner
NLM
pubmed:authorsComplete
Y
pubmed:pagination
189-97
pubmed:dateRevised
2006-11-15
pubmed:meshHeading
pubmed:year
2000
pubmed:articleTitle
Olfactory discrimination ability for aliphatic odorants as a function of oxygen moiety.
pubmed:affiliation
Department of Medical Psychology, University of Munich Medical School, Goethestrabetae 31, D-80336 Munich, Germany. Laska@imp.med.uni-muenchen.de
pubmed:publicationType
Journal Article, Comparative Study, Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't