Dynamics of Nasal Irritation from Pulsed Homologous Alcohols

• Published in: Chemical senses Vol. 35; no. 9; pp. 823 - 829
• Main Authors: Wise, Paul M., Zhao, Kai, Wysocki, Charles J.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford Oxford University Press 01.11.2010
• Subjects: 1-Butanol - pharmacology; Adult; Alcohols - pharmacology; Analysis of Variance; Biological and medical sciences; chemesthesis; exposure; Female; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Hexanols - pharmacology; Humans; inhalation toxicology; Irritants - pharmacology; Male; Nasal Mucosa - drug effects; Olfaction. Taste; Perception; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychology. Psychophysiology; Sensory Thresholds - drug effects; VOC; Young Adult; chemesthesis; Alcoholic beverage; Exposure; VOC; inhalation toxicology
• ISSN: 0379-864X; 1464-3553; 1464-3553
• DOI: 10.1093/chemse/bjq086

Relatively, few studies have focused on how nasal irritation changes over time. To simulate the rhythm of natural respiration, subjects received 3-s pulses of volatile organic compounds interspersed with 3-s pulses of clean air. Each trial, subjects received 9 pulses of a chemical vapor over about 1 min. Subjects rated nasal irritation from each pulse using magnitude estimation. Within a trial, compound and concentration were fixed. Compound (ethanol, n-butanol, or n-hexanol) and concentration (4 levels for each compound) varied across trials. For all stimuli, rated irritation decreased over time (adaptation). Plots of log-rated intensity versus elapsed time were approximately linear (intensity decreased by a fixed ratio per unit time). Interestingly, the slopes of intensity versus time functions differed very little: Regardless of concentration and compound, rated irritation decreased by about 32% over the 9 pulses. The basic mechanism of short-term adaptation may be the same for the 3 alcohols studied. Regardless, these data suggest that very simple models might be able to describe some aspects of perceptual dynamics quite well.