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Search for Human Pheromone

by Medindia Content Team on May 16 2006 2:06 PM

A study has found that both lesbians and heterosexual men react in a similar way to the smell of certain body odors. According to a previous study it was found that there were significant differences in brain process of odor in both heterosexual and homosexual men. Pheromones are sex-specific chemicals that send messages to other members of the species. It is well documented in animals, but their existence in humans is questionable. Researchers say that there is difference in physiological responses to odor. The study appeared in The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

It was found that brain processes the substances present in male sweat and an estrogen like substance in the female urine very differently. About 12 lesbians were asked to smell these two substances and researchers observed blood flow in their brains with PET scans. The estrogen like compound activated a part of the hypothalamus. Hypothalamus is important in sexual behavior as seen in animal studies. Dr. Ivanka Savic and her colleagues found that heterosexual women responded to the male sweat odor in the hypothalamus and heterosexual men responded to female estrogen in the hypothalamus. But lesbians do not respond to these two odors in exactly the same way as heterosexual men. Hence it was found that gay men and heterosexual women do not respond to a smell in a similar way.


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