Owsienko Diana, Goppelt Lisa, Hierl Katharina, Schäfer Laura, Croy Ilona, Loos Helene M
Chair of Aroma and Smell Research, Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg (FAU), Erlangen, Germany.
Department of Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics, Technical University of Dresden, Dresden, Germany.
Commun Chem. 2024 Mar 21;7(1):53. doi: 10.1038/s42004-024-01131-4.
Body odors change during development, and this change influences the interpersonal communication between parents and their children. The molecular basis for this chemical communication has not been elucidated yet. Here, we show by combining instrumental and sensory analyses that the qualitative odorant composition of body odor samples is similar in infants (0-3 years) and post-pubertal children (14-18 years). The post-pubertal samples are characterized by higher odor dilution factors for carboxylic acids and by the presence of 5α-androst-16-en-3-one and 5α-androst-16-en-3α-ol. In addition to the olfaction-guided approach, the compounds 6-methylhept-5-en-2-one (6MHO), geranyl acetone (GA) and squalene (SQ) were quantified. Both age groups have similar concentrations of 6MHO and GA, whereas post-pubertal children tend to have higher concentration of SQ. In conclusion, sexual maturation coincides with changes to body odor chemical composition. Whether those changes explain differences in parental olfactory perception needs to be determined in future studies with model odors.
体臭在发育过程中会发生变化，这种变化会影响父母与子女之间的人际交流。这种化学交流的分子基础尚未阐明。在这里，我们通过结合仪器分析和感官分析表明，婴儿（0至3岁）和青春期后儿童（14至18岁）体臭样本的定性气味成分相似。青春期后样本的特征是羧酸的气味稀释因子较高，并且存在5α-雄甾-16-烯-3-酮和5α-雄甾-16-烯-3α-醇。除了嗅觉引导方法外，还对化合物6-甲基庚-5-烯-2-酮（6MHO）、香叶基丙酮（GA）和角鲨烯（SQ）进行了定量。两个年龄组的6MHO和GA浓度相似，而青春期后儿童的SQ浓度往往较高。总之，性成熟与体臭化学成分的变化同时发生。这些变化是否能解释父母嗅觉感知的差异，需要在未来使用模型气味的研究中加以确定。
