Pheromonal biology in the human species

Biología feromonal en la especie humana

The chemosensitivity and chemosensory functions of the human nose have always been neglected, but the increase in evidence from research in other animal species suggests that olfaction can serve other very important purposes. In mammals it is mediated by different organs located in the nasal cavity, such as the olfactory epithelium that binds volatile molecules, responsible for the conscious perception of odors and the vomeronasal organ (VNO) that binds pheromones and causes several responses, especially among individuals of the same species. Odorous molecules and pheromones bind to receptors that allow the transduction signal, which are encoded by large multigene families. This review presents recent and updated information about the human pheromone thematic. Abbreviations: OVN, vomeronasal organ; FM, pheromone (s); NE, neuron (s).

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