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Chemical Senses Advance Access originally published online on February 17, 2008
Chemical Senses 2008 33(4):363-369; doi:10.1093/chemse/bjn004
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© The Author 2008. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org

Synergistic Mixture Interactions in Detection of Perithreshold Odors by Humans

Toshio Miyazawa1, Michelle Gallagher2, George Preti2,3 and Paul M. Wise2

1 Flavor System & Technology Laboratory, R&D Control Division, Ogawa & Co. Ltd, 15-7 Chidori Urayashu-shi, Chiba 279-0032, Japan 2 Monell Chemical Senses Center, 3500 Market Street, Philadelphia, PA 19104-3308, USA 3 Department of Dermatology, School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA

Correspondence to be sent to: Paul M. Wise, Monell Chemical Senses Center, 3500 Market Street, Philadelphia, PA 19104-3308, USA. e-mail: pwise{at}monell.org


  Abstract

Laboratory demonstrations of synergistic mixture interactions in human odor perception have been rare. The current study examined perithreshold mixture interactions between maple lactone (ML) and selected carboxylic acids. An air-dilution olfactometer allowed precise stimulus control. Experimenters measured stimulus concentrations in vapor phase using a combination of solid-phase microextraction and gas chromatography/mass spectrometry. A probability of detection versus concentration, or a psychometric, functions was measured for pure ML. Psychometric functions were also measured for ML with the addition of fixed, subthreshold concentrations of carboxylic acids. Relative to statistical independence in detection, clear synergy occurred over a range of ML concentrations. To the best of our knowledge, the current results constitute the first clear demonstration of synergy in odor detection by humans from an experiment that combined precise stimulus control, vapor-phase calibration of stimuli, and a clear statistical definition of synergy.

Key words: olfaction, psychophysics, synergy

Accepted 21 December 2007


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