Olfactory Perception Thresholds in Hypogonadal Women: Changes Accompanying Administration of Androgen and Estrogen*†

Bottle-fed neonates prefer an odor experienced in utero to an odor experienced postnatally in the feeding context

“…Several such milk-dependent determinants of neonatal chemosensory performance can be briefly mentioned: (a) Colostrum and breast-milk carry behaviorally active agents -hormones, nerve growth factors, psychoactive peptides -that are much less or not represented in formula milks (Koldowsky, 1989;Grosvenor, Picciano, & Baumrucker, 1992). Many of these active agents are absorbed into the neonatal blood flow (Koldowsky, 1989) and are known to modulate olfactory detection abilities in adult humans or in young animals (e.g., thyroxine: Brunjes & Alberts, 1980;gonadal steroids: Le Magnen, 1952;Schneider, Costilloe, Howard, & Wolf, 1958;cortisol: Pause, 1996). (b) Both kinds of milks differentially affect gastrointestinal function on either endocrine (Lucas, Boyes, Bloom, & Aynsley-Green, 1981: Salmenperä, Perheetupa, Siimes, Adrian, Bloom, & Aynsley-Green, 1988, absorptive (Koldowski, 1978) or digestive adaptedness levels (Forsyth & McCarthy, 1985;Da Mota, 1990).…”

The visual sensitivity of women during the menstrual cycle

“…TheJx discriminability indices show significant (p ~ 0.05) increases in visual sensitivity on the basal body temperature rise day, while five control observers show no changes across four consecutive days.Increased olfactory (LeMagnen, 1953;Schneider, Costiloe, Howard and Wolf, 1958) and cold (Kenshalo, 1966) sensitivity in human females occurs on the day of basal body temperature (BBT) rise. * Diamond, Diamond and Mast (1972) concluded that visual sensitivity is elevated during the second half of the human female menstrual cycle.…”

Factors Influencing Odor Sensitivity in the Dog

“…Reports from other investigators also indicate that estrogen alone can significantly increase olfactory acuity in hypogonadal women (Schneider, 1958), and, alternatively, the observed decrease in odor response could be explai ed to result from the relative decrease in the plasma concentrations of estrogen. Nevertheless, these abnormal hormonal states may not accurately reflect those changes occurring in the normal cycling animal.…”

“…Le Magnen (1952a) Schneider and Wolff (1955), and Carr and Caul (1962) Schneider et al (1958) reported that androgen treatment in the normal physiological range depresses olfactory acuity in hypogonadal women, but this study was based on findings from only one subject. W~th systemic in, 4 ections of 600-1000 ug TP in the male rat, Pfaff and Pfaffmann (1969) found that the magnitude of single unit responses in the olfactory bulb was enhanced in the excitatory direction in most experiments.…”