Skip Navigation



ToxSci Advance Access published online on June 4, 2007
Toxicological Sciences, doi:10.1093/toxsci/kfm144
This Article
Right arrow Advance Access manuscript (PDF) Freely available
Right arrow Supplementary Data
Right arrow Supplementary Data
Right arrow All Versions of this Article:
99/1/254    most recent
kfm144v1
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My Personal Archive
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Right arrow Disclaimer
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Wise, P. M.
Right arrow Articles by Wysocki, C. J.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Wise, P. M.
Right arrow Articles by Wysocki, C. J.
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us  
What's this?

© The Author 2007. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Society of Toxicology. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org

Temporal Integration in Nasal Lateralization of Homologous Alcohols

Paul M. Wise, Sean E. Toczydlowski and Charles J. Wysocki

Monell Chemical Senses Center, 3500 Market Street, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 19104-3308

Correspondence to: Dr. Paul M. Wise, Monell Chemical Senses Center, 3500 Market Street, Philadelphia, PA 19104-3308, Phone: 267-519-4799, FAX: 215-898-2084, email: pwise{at}monell.org

Received April 10, 2007; revision received May 10, 2007; accepted May 25, 2007


  Abstract

Through temporal integration, sensory systems accumulate stimulus energy, e.g., photons, acoustic energy, or molecules, over time to detect weaker signals than they otherwise could. Past studies found imperfect temporal integration in detection of nasal irritation: To maintain a fixed level of detection, one must increase stimulus-duration by more than 2-fold to compensate for cutting concentration in half. Despite this generality, integration varied widely among compounds, from nearly perfect, i.e., an increase in duration of slightly more than 2-fold could compensate for cutting concentration in half, to highly imperfect. How do such differences relate to molecular parameters? Perhaps molecules that more readily dissolve into the lipid-rich peri-receptor environment will accumulate, and therefore integrate, better over time. To test this hypothesis, studies compared temporal integration for three compounds that differ systematically in lipid solubility: n-ethanol, n-butanol, and n-hexanol. Subjects were healthy, adult humans. Nasal lateralization was used to measure irritation threshold. Subjects received a fixed concentration of a single compound within each experimenal session, and stimulus-duration was varied to find the briefest stimulus subjects could reliably lateralize. Concentration and compound varied across sessions. Consistent with the hypothesis, integration did become closer to perfect as lipid solubility increased. That just one molecular parameter can help predict degree of integration suggests that a structure-activity approach to understanding temporal integration shows promise.

Key Words: Chemical irritation; pungency; chemesthesis; volatile organic compound; inhalation toxicology.


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us    What's this?




Disclaimer: Please note that abstracts for content published before 1996 were created through digital scanning and may therefore not exactly replicate the text of the original print issues. All efforts have been made to ensure accuracy, but the Publisher will not be held responsible for any remaining inaccuracies. If you require any further clarification, please contact our Customer Services Department.