INDIVIDUAL VARIATION IN OLFACTION

丧失嗅觉的人(目前的估计数字是 300万或更多)可能会经历生活质量的转变 --一些人甚至认识到， 嗅觉障碍(例如，闻不到变质的食物或天然气)。抑郁症 或者，体重的变化可能是显而易见的。不幸的是，嗅觉是 对感官系统知之甚少，几乎无法恢复 大多数人都有嗅觉。 关于基因和环境如何相互作用调节嗅觉的知识 有助于更好地理解气味感知。的研究 特殊的嗅觉障碍(其他正常人的选择性缺陷)可以 提供其中的一些信息。雄烯酮的特异性嗅觉障碍 基因起源。然而，这种表型是动态的：它受到以下因素的影响 发展因素和实验因素。大多数幼儿都能闻到气味 雄烯酮。在大约青春期的时候，许多人变得 雄烯酮--无嗅觉。然而，嗅到雄烯酮的能力可以是 有一半的雄激素缺乏症患者通过选择性暴露于 化合物。使用心理物理学、细胞遗传学、组织学和经典 遗传学方法进一步探索特定基因的致病机制 将进行雄烯酮的嗅觉丧失和特殊的转变 将深入研究可由经验引起的嗅觉障碍。 额外的工作将确定观察到的变化是否 对雄烯酮的感知是雄烯酮独有的，或者概括为 其他气味。 动物模型将为了解嗅觉提供理想的工具 在生化和生理水平上进行加工。为达到这些目的，一个 雄酮嗅觉丧失模型正在开发和测试中，以确定 它的充分性。

People who loose their sense of smell (current estimates place this figure three million or more) may experience a shift in the quality of their life -- some even recognize the compromise in health and safety resulting from anosmia (e.g., inability to smell spoiled food or natural gas). Depression or shifts in weight may be evident. Unfortunately, olfaction is one of the least understood sensory systems and little can be done to restore the sense of smell in most people. Knowledge about how genes and the environment interact to mediate olfaction can contribute to a better understanding of odor perception. Studies of specific anosmias (selective deficits in otherwise normal people) can provide some of this information. Specific anosmia to androstenone has a genetic origin. This phenotype, however, is dynamic: It is influenced by developmental and experimental factors. Most young children can smell androstenone. At about the time of puberty, many individuals become androstenone-anosmic. The ability to smell androstenone, however, can be induced in half of androstenone-anosmics by selective exposures to the compound. Using psychophysical, cytogenetic, histological and classical genetic methods further explorations of the mechanisms underlying specific anosmia to androstenone will be undertaken and the peculiar shift from anosmia that can be induced by experience will be studied in depth. Additional work will determine whether the observed changes in the perception of androstenone are unique to androstenone or generalize to other odors. Animal models would provide ideal tools for understanding olfactory processing at the biochemical and physiological levels. To these ends, a model of androstenone anosmia is being developed and tested to determine its adequacy.