Elucidation of odor interactions by human olfactory receptor responses

Most of the odors that humans perceive daily are complex odors. It is believed that the modulation, enhancement, and suppression of overall complex odors are caused by interactions between odor molecules. In this study, to understand the interaction between odor molecules at the level of human olfactory receptor responses, the effects of 3-octen-2-one, which has been shown to modulate vanilla flavors, were analyzed using a human olfactory receptor sensor that uses all human olfactory receptors (388 types) as sensing molecules. As a result, the response intensity of ORs with small responses to 3-octen-2-one and vanilla flavor, but synergistically enhanced responses to the mixture, and conversely, other ORs with responses to vanilla flavor but suppressed responses to the mixture.

This research results were presented at the 55th Annual Meeting of The Japanese Association for the Study of Taste and Smell.