Chemosensory Detectability of 1-Butanol and 2-Heptanone Singly and in Binary Mixtures

• Published in: Physiology & behavior Vol. 67; no. 2; pp. 269 - 276
• Main Authors: Cometto–Muñiz, J.Enrique, Cain, William S, Abraham, Michael H, Gola, Joelle M.R
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Cambridge Elsevier Inc 15.08.1999; New York, NY Elsevier
• Subjects: 1-Butanol; 2-Heptanone; Adult; Analysis of Variance; Anosmics; Biological and medical sciences; Case-Control Studies; Chemoreceptor Cells - physiology; Chemosensory irritation; Drug Interactions - physiology; Eye - drug effects; Eye irritation; Female; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Humans; Irritant mixtures; Irritants; Ketones; Male; Middle Aged; Models, Biological; Nasal pungency; Odor; Odor mixtures; Odorants; Olfaction; Olfaction Disorders - physiopathology; Olfaction. Taste; Olfactory Pathways - physiology; Perception; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychology. Psychophysiology; Psychometric functions; Psychometrics; Signal Detection, Psychological - physiology; Smell - physiology; Stimulation, Chemical; Trigeminal Nerve - physiology; Psychometric functions; Nasal pungency; Anosmics; Olfaction; Odor mixtures; Irritant mixtures; Chemosensory irritation; Odor; 2-Heptanone; Eye irritation; 1-Butanol; Human; Perception threshold; Psychophysics; Mixture; Eye; Visual system; Heptanone; Detection threshold; Perception; Butanol; Chemical stimulus; Irritation
• ISSN: 0031-9384; 1873-507X
• DOI: 10.1016/S0031-9384(99)00074-8

COMETTO–MUÑIZ, J. E., W. S. CAIN, M. H. ABRAHAM AND J. M. R. GOLA. Chemosensory detectability of 1-butanol and 2-heptanone singly and in binary mixtures. PHYSIOL BEHAV 67(2) 269–276, 1999.—Using 1-butanol and 2-heptanone as stimuli, we measured detectability (i.e., psychometric) functions for the odor, nasal pungency, and eye irritation of these two substances alone and in binary mixtures. Nasal pungency responses were tested in subjects lacking olfaction (i.e., anosmics) for whom odors do not interfere. Eye irritation responses were tested in normosmics and anosmics, and found to be similar in both groups so their results were pooled. When all stimuli—single and mixtures—were transformed into concentration units of one (or the other) chemical, a single function could fit all data from the same sensory end point with a correlation coefficient of 0.91 or higher. The outcome lends support, as a first approximation, to the notion of chemosensory agonism, in the sense of dose additivity, between the members of binary mixtures presented at perithreshold levels.