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| July 01,2003 – SOSI Abstract Number: 3 Male Sweat Found to Relax Woman and Make Them More Fertile, Craig B. Warren The prospect of a human pheromone has captivated the fragrance industry for more than 3 decades. Human pheromones entered the scene in the ‘70s with the discovery that the boar pheromone, androstenone, was also found in very small quantities in human underarm extract. In the ‘80s andronstenol, the other component of boar pheromone, found its way into two mass market fragrances, Andron for Men and Andron for Woman. In the ’90s the hypothesis that humans contain a functioning vomeronasal organ revived interest in pheromones with androstadienone finding its way to center stage. In this paper Dr. George Preti, an analytical chemist and Dr. Charles Wysocki and animal physiologist, both from the Monell Chemical Senses Center along with 3 coworkers from the University of Pennsylvania provide us with the most compelling results to date for the presence of human pheromones in male underarm extract. There are several types of pheromones. Releaser pheromones generate immediate behavioral responses such as sexual attraction and/or copulation. This is the class of pheromones that finds its way into the popular press and people’s imagination. Primer pheromones generate slower physiological – endocrine – neuroendocrine responses including hormonal changes that alter reproductive function. In the past five years a third class of pheromones have surfaced, modulator pheromones, introduced by Jacob and McClintock, that affect the state or mood of the recipient. In this paper, Drs. Preti and Wysocki, present data showing that human, male underarm extract contains compounds that show activity as human primer and modulator pheromones. Their data are the first evidence that male axillary extract causes hormonal and mood alterations in woman. Female volunteers were exposed for a six-hour period to samples of both male underarm extract and an ethyl alcohol control that were fragranced with a small amount of deodorant fragrance to disguise their identity. In this way each woman served as her own control in that the effect of the control substance could be directly compared to that of the underarm extract. Levels of luteinizing hormone (LH), a hormone that controls the length and onset of the menstrual cycle, were monitored. Luteinizing hormone (LH) is released in pulses that become more frequent as a woman approaches ovulation. Exposure to male underarm extract decreased the time between pulses by approximately 20% relative to the alcohol control – an effect that was two fold greater than that noted in animals that had been hormonally manipulated to maximize this effect. Pulses of LH are excellent indicators of the release of gonadotropin releasing hormone from the brain’s hypothalamus. In woman, GnRH’s influence on LH affects the length and timing of the menstrual cycle, which in turn, affects fertility. The volunteers also reported feeling less tense and more relaxed during exposure to the male extract relative to the control stimulus. Thus, male underarm extract alters hormonal levels (primer pheromone activity) and mood (modulator pheromone activity) in woman. Drs. Preti and Wysocki are now pursuing the identity of the pheromones. I am sure this information will be eagerly received by the fragrance and pharmaceutical industries. Preti, G., Wysocki, C.J., Barnhart, K.T., Sondheimer, S.J., and Leyden, J.J. "Male axillary extracts contain pheromones that affect pulsatile secretion of lutenizing hormone and mood in women recipients." Biology of Reproduction 68 (2003): 2107-2113. |
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