Sollai Giorgia, Solari Paolo, Crnjar Roberto
Department of Biomedical Sciences, University of Cagliari, 09042 Monserrato, CA, Italy.
Foods. 2024 Oct 11;13(20):3239. doi: 10.3390/foods13203239.
One of the still-debated topics regarding the olfactory function concerns the presence or absence of sex-related differences in individuals. In this study, we checked for a relationship between the olfactory function of females and males and their ability to perceive single molecules, and researched how this can influence the intensity with which the complex odor formed by a set of single molecules is perceived. First, females and males were classified as normosmic or hyposmic based on the TDI olfactory score obtained using the Sniffin' Sticks test. Subsequently, the headspace of roasted coffee beans, as a complex olfactory stimulus, was broken down into single molecules by means of a chromatographic column; these were simultaneously conveyed to a mass spectrometer (for their subsequent classification) and to the human nose, which acts as a chemical sensor by means of an olfactometer port. The results obtained with this gas chromatography-olfactometry approach show both qualitative and quantitative differences between females and males, with females performing better than males. In addition, the odor intensity reported by females when sniffing pen #10, containing coffee aroma, is significantly higher than that reported by males. In conclusion, these data highlight that the human ability to perceive both single compounds and complex odors is strongly conditioned, not only by the olfactory function of individuals, but also by their sex.
关于嗅觉功能仍在争论的话题之一是个体中是否存在与性别相关的差异。在本研究中，我们检查了男性和女性的嗅觉功能与其感知单一分子的能力之间的关系，并研究了这如何影响由一组单一分子形成的复合气味的感知强度。首先，根据使用嗅觉棒测试获得的TDI嗅觉评分，将男性和女性分为嗅觉正常或嗅觉减退。随后，作为复合嗅觉刺激物的烘焙咖啡豆的顶空通过色谱柱分解为单一分子；这些分子同时被输送到质谱仪（用于随后的分类）和人鼻，人鼻通过嗅觉计端口充当化学传感器。用这种气相色谱-嗅觉测量方法获得的结果表明，男性和女性之间在定性和定量方面都存在差异，女性表现优于男性。此外，女性在嗅闻含有咖啡香气的10号笔时报告的气味强度明显高于男性。总之，这些数据表明，人类感知单一化合物和复合气味的能力不仅受到个体嗅觉功能的强烈影响，还受到其性别的影响。
