Cometto-Muñiz J E, Cain W S
Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut.
Arch Environ Health. 1993 Sep-Oct;48(5):309-14. doi: 10.1080/00039896.1993.9936719.
Sensory irritation (pungency) figures prominently among the symptoms associated with polluted indoor environments. In order to separate the pungent from the olfactory response, we measured nasal pungency thresholds in subjects lacking olfaction (anosmics) and odor thresholds in normal controls (normosmics) for a homologous series of ketones and for selected secondary and tertiary alcohols and acetates. As seen previously for homologous alcohols and acetates, both types of nasal thresholds decreased with increasing carbon chain length. Pungency thresholds decreased exponentially with chain length. With respect to all nonreactive chemicals studied so far, threshold nasal pungency is achieved at a fairly constant percentage of vapor saturation, irrespective of molecular size or chemical functional group. Such a relationship does not hold for odor thresholds. The outcome for pungency implies an important role for a physical, rather than chemical, interaction with nasal mucosa.
在与室内环境污染相关的症状中，感觉刺激（刺鼻感）尤为突出。为了区分刺鼻感和嗅觉反应，我们测量了嗅觉缺失者（嗅觉丧失者）的鼻刺鼻阈值以及正常对照组（嗅觉正常者）对一系列同系酮、选定的仲醇和叔醇以及乙酸酯的气味阈值。正如之前对同系醇和乙酸酯的观察，两种类型的鼻阈值都随着碳链长度的增加而降低。刺鼻阈值随链长呈指数下降。就目前研究的所有非反应性化学物质而言，无论分子大小或化学官能团如何，在相当恒定的蒸汽饱和度百分比下即可达到阈值鼻刺鼻感。这种关系不适用于气味阈值。刺鼻感的结果表明与鼻黏膜的物理而非化学相互作用起着重要作用。
