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RESEARCH PRODUCT

Human neonatal responses to androstenone

subject

description

Poster P327 session VII: Olfactory Psychophysics & Clinical Studies; Central Olfaction; Aims. Human newborns show equal attraction to the odors of amniotic. fluid (AF) and mothers’ colostrum [1]. As 5-a-androst-16-en-3-. one (An) has been found in both fluids [2, 3], we studied it as a. potential vector of this perinatal odor continuity and of neonatal. attraction to the smell of breast and milk [4]. Methods. Two studies. were run. 1) We recorded the behavior of 16 newborns (3 days) and. 26 adults exposed to a saturating water solution of An and to 3. reference odorants [butyric acid, B; vanilla, V; water, W]. 2) We videotaped. 26 newborns (3 days) being administered 7 stimuli: 4 dilution. steps of An and 3 reference odorants [familiar milk, V, W]. Oral. and facial actions to each odorant were quantified in infants, while. verbal responses were recorded in adults. Results. In study 1, 12/16 neonates reacted with negative facial actions to An, while 10, 3 and. 2 responded in such way to B, V and W, respectively. In contrast,. 11/26 adults rated An as unpleasant, while 26 rated B as negative,. and V and W as positive/neutral. In study 2, 24/26 newborns. increased the relative duration of negative facial actions and/or. decreased the duration of oro-cephalic movements when exposed. to An as compared to W. Conclusions.Agreat majority of newborns. detect An and, as adults who are osmic to An, respond to An in. showing unpleasantness. Thus, the status of specific anosmia to. An clearly differs in neonates and adults ( 50% being. non responsive, respectively). Finally, the negative responsiveness. to a compound met prenatally appears paradoxical when considering. previous data on fetal odor learning. References. [1] Schaal B. et al. (1998). Behav Neurosci, 112, 1438-49; [2] Doucet S et al., submitted;. [3] Buettner A (2007). Flav Fragr J, 22, 465-73; [4] Doucet S. et al. (2007). Dev Psychobiol, 49, 129–38. Acknowledgements: SD. was supported by Bavarian Research Foundation and Region Burgundy. CH and AB were funded by the German Federal Ministry of. Education and Research (BMBF), and BS by CNRS (EAL 549).