Do "perfume with pheromones" work
And does a person have these substances at all?
Maria Perepechaeva, "First-hand Science"
All living organisms, including bacteria, emit signaling molecules into the environment, to which individuals of the same and even other species can react. An example is the transfer of information between insects and the plants they pollinate. However, the existence of "chemical mail" between people is still questionable. Moreover, scientists are arguing not only about the possibility of the existence of human "pheromones", as it is customary to call all products of external secretion that provide intraspecific chemical communication, but also about the meaning of this term itself. In search of an answer to these questions, researchers have attracted a technique that is usually used in the study of atmospheric chemistry.
According to modern ideas, pheromones are involved in interactions between individuals of the same species, including different sexes, changing their behavior. The first pheromone was discovered 60 years ago by the German biochemist A. Butenandt: this chemical compound, called bombicol, is used to attract the sexual partner of a silkworm butterfly. Since then, similar substances have been found in insects, fish, amphibians, reptiles and mammals.
As for a person, the presence of pheromones in him has not yet been proven, although such attempts have been made repeatedly. Thus, it was claimed that due to chemical communication, the menstrual cycle is synchronized in women when living together, as it is observed in rodents. However, it later turned out that in reality this is not the case.
Some researchers have put forward androstadienone and estratetraenol for the role of sexual pheromones (male and female, respectively), but they also failed to prove this. By the way, what did not prevent the "perfume with pheromones" from being actively sold and no less actively bought, since many people find such a simple way to attract the attention of the opposite sex very tempting.
Why is there still no comprehensive answer to the question about human pheromones? One of the reasons is methodical, including a small number of subjects and questionable statistical methods of data processing. The main reason is that researchers usually dealt with the end result, and not with the process: for example, the participants of the experiment wore a T-shirt at night, and scientists analyzed "en masse" all the compounds that got on it with sweat during this period. In this case, it is almost impossible to catch the subtle nuances of changes in chemical compounds in response to specific stimulations.
Help came from where they did not expect. Among the participants of the recent discussion of the problem of chemical communication in people at the meeting The Royal Society turned out to be Professor J. Williams, an atmospheric chemistry specialist from the Institute of Chemistry. Max Planck (Germany) with the report Is there a real life ‘Lynx effect’ in humans? It turned out that the proton mass spectrometer (PTR-MS), used in studies of the trace element composition of the atmosphere, can also be successfully used to "hunt" for pheromones and other similar molecules, since it allows real-time monitoring of human release of substances into the environment.
A few years ago, Williams' group conducted such studies on football fans: it was supposed to determine the chemical "pattern" of fans at the time of scoring a goal. However, the match ended with a score of 0:0, so later scientists worked in cinemas, measuring the concentrations of hundreds of molecules in the outflow of the cinema ventilation system. They worked on 108 screenings of 16 films of various genres, which were seen by more than 9.5 thousand viewers.
It turned out that the chemical "pattern" of the atmosphere of the hall really changed depending on the plot. In response to the dramatic scenes, the level of carbon dioxide increased (probably due to rapid breathing) and isoprene, one of the metabolic products. It is known that the concentration of isoprene in exhaled air changes during physical activity, so that the increase in its concentration could be associated with the movements of spectators, for example, clenching fists.
But the most significant concentrations of chemicals in the air changed when watching some scenes in films of the genre "suspense", i.e. psychological thriller, and comedy. Researchers believe that here we can deal with an evolutionarily important mechanism: it may be beneficial for the survival of a species if the emotions accompanying such situations are well "caught" by others. As for cinema, such a "chemical accompaniment" of a movie, generated by the audience itself, can change the picture of the viewer's perception.
By the way, emotionally induced emissions of certain substances (the same isoprene) can complicate attempts to diagnose volatile chemical markers of diseases, for example, diabetes mellitus, which are carried out today with the help of special devices or trained animals.
Now scientists are continuing their research on the search for human sexual pheromones, as well as signaling molecules of fear and aggression. For example, they study changes in the chemical composition of soldiers' sweat before their first parachute jump.
But the question is: will human pheromones be found or not? so far, it remains unanswered. In favor of a negative answer, it seems to be the fact that we practically have no so-called vomeronasal organ (Jacobson's organ), whose receptors are just "tuned" to perceive vital odors associated with the search for a sexual partner, food or danger. However, scientists have not yet come to a common opinion about its presence and functioning in humans.
In addition, such signals can be encoded not by one specific substance, but by a complex complex of several compounds, the concentrations of which in the body begin to change under certain conditions. After all, people are much more complicated than butterflies, and it is unlikely that someone will force you to rush into their arms, perfumed with a "love potion".
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