olfactory receptor

Every compound in the sci-wiki that affects olfactory receptor; the ones you can source are floated to the front, then the reference-only entries. Tap any for the full entry, mechanism, and outlets.

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Neurosteroid

Androstenol

Androstenol (5-alpha-androst-16-en-3-alpha-ol, with a 3-beta epimer) is an endogenous 16-androstene steroid (a C19 steroid that lacks the C-17 oxygen of typical androgens) and a putative human chemosignal. It is synthesized alongside testosterone in the testis, secreted in axillary (underarm) sweat, and also occurs as a major aroma component of truffles, where its volatile, musky odor is biologically active. Its documented neuroactivity in humans is chemosensory; smelling androstenol has been reported to shift self-rated mood and social judgments in some experiments and to activate the anterior hypothalamus in women, although rigorous reviews consider the evidence for a true human pheromone effect weak and inconsistent. It is grouped with the neurosteroids because it is a steroid with measurable central chemosensory and neuroendocrine effects, not because a defined ion-channel mechanism has been established.

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Neurosteroid

Androstenone

Androstenone (5alpha-androst-16-en-3-one) is an endogenous 16-androstene steroid and the archetypal mammalian putative pheromone, best known as the principal component of "boar taint" (the urinous off-odor of intact male pork) and as a minor constituent of human axillary sweat and saliva. Unlike the classic anesthetic neurosteroids that act on the GABA-A receptor (the brain's main inhibitory ion channel), androstenone is a chemosensory neuroactive steroid; its dominant known target in the nervous system is the olfactory receptor OR7D4, expressed on sensory neurons of the nasal epithelium. Its perception is one of the most strikingly variable in human sensory biology, ranging from a strong urinous or sweaty odor, to a faint sweet or floral note, to complete inability to detect it, and this variation is largely explained by coding polymorphisms in the OR7D4 gene. The compound is a foundational model odorant for the molecular genetics of smell, for specific anosmia, and for olfactory plasticity.

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