| 1. |
- Arshamian, Artin, et al.
(författare)
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A mammalian blood odor component serves as an approach-avoidance cue across phylum border - from flies to humans
- 2017
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Ingår i: Scientific Reports. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 2045-2322. ; 7
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Chemosignals are used by predators to localize prey and by prey to avoid predators. These cues vary between species, but the odor of blood seems to be an exception and suggests the presence of an evolutionarily conserved chemosensory cue within the blood odor mixture. A blood odor component, E2D, has been shown to trigger approach responses identical to those triggered by the full blood odor in mammalian carnivores and as such, is a key candidate as a food/alarm cue in blood. Using a multidisciplinary approach, we demonstrate that E2D holds the dual function of affecting both approach and avoidance behavior in a predator-prey predicted manner. E2D evokes approach responses in two taxonomically distant blood-seeking predators, Stable fly and Wolf, while evoking avoidance responses in the prey species Mouse. We extend this by demonstrating that this chemical cue is preserved in humans as well; E2D induces postural avoidance, increases physiological arousal, and enhances visual perception of affective stimuli. This is the first demonstration of a single chemical cue with the dual function of guiding both approach and avoidance in a predator-prey predicted manner across taxonomically distant species, as well as the first known chemosignal that affects both human and non-human animals alike.
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| 2. |
- Gordon, Amy R., et al.
(författare)
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Detection of Inflammation via Volatile Cues in Human Urine
- 2018
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Ingår i: Chemical Senses. - : Oxford University Press (OUP). - 0379-864X .- 1464-3553. ; 43:9, s. 711-719
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Contagious disease is a major threat to survival, and the cost of relying on the immune system to defeat pathogens is high; therefore, behavioral avoidance of contagious individuals is arguably an adaptive strategy. Animal findings demonstrate the ability to detect and avoid sick individuals by the aid of olfactory cues, and a recent study indicated that human axillary odor also becomes more aversive as a function of immune activation. By injecting healthy human participants with lipopolysaccharide (0.6 ng/kg body weight) to experimentally induce inflammation, this study demonstrates that natural daily rhythms of urine odor-its perceived dimensions and volatile profile-are altered within hours of inflammation onset. Whereas healthy human urine decreases in averseness over the course of a single day, inflammation interrupts this process and results in an increased urine odor averseness and an altered volatile composition. These results support the notion that subtle and early cues of sickness may be detected and avoided, thereby complementing the immune system in its role of keeping us alive and healthy.
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| 3. |
- Gordon, Amy R., et al.
(författare)
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Human scent as a first-line defense against disease
- 2023
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Ingår i: Scientific Reports. - : Springer Nature. - 2045-2322. ; 13:1
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Individuals may have a different body odor, when they are sick compared to healthy. In the non-human animal literature, olfactory cues have been shown to predict avoidance of sick individuals. We tested whether the mere experimental activation of the innate immune system in healthy human individuals can make an individuals' body odor be perceived as more aversive (intense, unpleasant, and disgusting). Following an endotoxin injection (lipopolysaccharide; 0.6 ng/kg) that creates a transient systemic inflammation, individuals smelled more unpleasant compared to a placebo group (saline injection). Behavioral and chemical analyses of the body odor samples suggest that the volatile components of samples from sick individuals changed qualitatively rather than quantitatively. Our findings support the hypothesis that odor cues of inflammation in axillary sweat are detectable just a few hours after experimental activation of the innate immune system. As such, they may trigger behavioral avoidance, hence constituting a first line of defense against pathogens of infected conspecifics.
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| 4. |
- Gordon, Amy R., et al.
(författare)
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The scent of disease
- 2015
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Ingår i: Chemical Senses. - : Oxford University Press (OUP). - 0379-864X .- 1464-3553. ; 40:3, s. 254-254
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Ability to detect diseases in conspecifics would be advantageous for the individual. In line with this, rodents avoid body odors of infected individuals. Two studies (Olsson et al. 20014; in prep.) indicated that this is possible by way of human smell and human observers. T-shirts from donors (worn for 4 hours) that had received an injection of endotoxin [0.8ng lipopolysaccharide (LPS) / kg body weight], which causes systemic inflammation, smelled more unpleasant, intense, and sick than shirts from donors that had received a placebo (Saline) injection. GC/MS analysis of the shirts suggested that the change of body odor was not due to a general increase of odorous compounds in the “sick shirts” compared to “placebo shirts” but rather to a qualitative change. Study 2 (ongoing) further investigated the nature of this perception. In a first experiment, we compared the body odor of 30 endotoxin (0.6ng LPS / kg body weight) and 21 placebo (Saline) donors. Again, body odors were sampled during 4 hours using T-shirts. Observers then smelled the shirts and rated intensity, pleasantness, and disgust. In a second experiment, urine from these donors were collected and was investigated in the same way with subjective ratings. Altogether the data suggest that systemic inflammation makes body odors more aversive within a few hours.
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| 5. |
- Juran, Stephanie Anja, et al.
(författare)
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Disgusting odors trigger the oral immune system
- 2023
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Ingår i: Evolution, Medicine, and Public Health. - : Oxford University Press. - 2050-6201. ; 11:1, s. 8-17
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Recent research has characterized the behavioral defense against disease. In particular the detection of sickness cues, the adaptive reactions (e.g. avoidance) to these cues and the mediating role of disgust have been the focus. A presumably important but less investigated part of a behavioral defense is the immune system response of the observer of sickness cues. Odors are intimately connected to disease and disgust, and research has shown how olfaction conveys sickness cues in both animals and humans. This study aims to test whether odorous sickness cues (i.e. disgusting odors) can trigger a preparatory immune response in humans. We show that subjective and objective disgust measures, as well as TNFα levels in saliva increased immediately after exposure to disgusting odors in a sample of 36 individuals. Altogether, these results suggest a collaboration between behavioral mechanisms of pathogen avoidance in olfaction, mediated by the emotion of disgust, and mechanisms of pathogen elimination facilitated by inflammatory mediators.Disgusting stimuli are associated with an increased risk of infection. We here test whether disgusting odors, can trigger an immune response in the oral cavity. The results indicate an increase level of TNFα in the saliva. This supports that disease cues can trigger a preparatory response in the oral cavity.
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| 6. |
- Juran, Stephanie A, et al.
(författare)
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Unilateral Resection of the Anterior Medial Temporal Lobe Impairs Odor Identification and Valence Perception
- 2015
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Ingår i: Frontiers in Psychology. - : Frontiers Media S.A.. - 1664-1078. ; 6
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The anterior medial temporal lobe (TL), including the amygdala, has been implicated in olfactory processing, e.g., coding for intensity and valence, and seems also involved in memory. With this background, the present study evaluated whether anterior medial TL-resections in TL epilepsy affected intensity and valence ratings, as well as free and cued identification of odors. These aspects of odor perception were assessed in 31 patients with unilateral anterior medial TL-resections (17 left, 14 right) and 16 healthy controls. Results suggest that the anterior medial TL is in particular necessary for free, but also cued, odor identification. TL resection was also found to impair odor valence, but not intensity ratings. Left resected patients rated nominally pleasant and unpleasant odors as more neutral suggesting a special role for the left anterior TL in coding for emotional saliency in response to odors.
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| 7. |
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| 8. |
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| 9. |
- Olsson, Mats J., et al.
(författare)
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The Scent of Disease : Human Body Odor Contains an Early Chemosensory Cue of Sickness
- 2014
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Ingår i: Psychological Science. - : SAGE Publications. - 0956-7976 .- 1467-9280. ; 25:3, s. 817-823
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Observational studies have suggested that with time, some diseases result in a characteristic odor emanating from different sources on the body of a sick individual. Evolutionarily, however, it would be more advantageous if the innate immune response were detectable by healthy individuals as a first line of defense against infection by various pathogens, to optimize avoidance of contagion. We activated the innate immune system in healthy individuals by injecting them with endotoxin (lipopolysaccharide). Within just a few hours, endotoxin-exposed individuals had a more aversive body odor relative to when they were exposed to a placebo. Moreover, this effect was statistically mediated by the individuals' level of immune activation. This chemosensory detection of the early innate immune response in humans represents the first experimental evidence that disease smells and supports the notion of a "behavioral immune response" that protects healthy individuals from sick ones by altering patterns of interpersonal contact.
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| 10. |
- Regenbogen, Christina, et al.
(författare)
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Behavioral and neural correlates to multisensory detection of sick humans
- 2017
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Ingår i: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. - : Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. - 0027-8424 .- 1091-6490. ; 114:24, s. 6400-6405
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Throughout human evolution, infectious diseases have been a primary cause of death. Detection of subtle cues indicating sickness and avoidance of sick conspecifics would therefore be an adaptive way of coping with an environment fraught with pathogens. This study determines how humans perceive and integrate early cues of sickness in conspecifics sampled just hours after the induction of immune system activation, and the underlying neural mechanisms for this detection. In a double-blind placebo-controlled crossover design, the immune system in 22 sample donors was transiently activated with an endotoxin injection [lipopolysaccharide (LPS)]. Facial photographs and body odor samples were taken from the same donors when sick (LPS-injected) and when healthy (saline-injected) and subsequently were presented to a separate group of participants (n = 30) who rated their liking of the presented person during fMRI scanning. Faces were less socially desirable when sick, and sick body odors tended to lower liking of the faces. Sickness status presented by odor and facial photograph resulted in increased neural activation of odor-and faceperception networks, respectively. A superadditive effect of olfactory-visual integration of sickness cues was found in the intraparietal sulcus, which was functionally connected to core areas of multisensory integration in the superior temporal sulcus and orbitofrontal cortex. Taken together, the results outline a disease-avoidance model in which neural mechanisms involved in the detection of disease cues and multisensory integration are vital parts.
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