Pheromones In Male Perspiration Reduce Women's Tension, Alter Hormone
Response
ScienceDaily (Mar. 17, 2003) — PHILADELPHIA -- Scientists at the
University
of Pennsylvania and the Monell Chemical Senses Center in Philadelphia have
found that exposure to male perspiration has marked psychological and
physiological effects on women: It can brighten women's moods, reducing
tension and increasing relaxation, and also has a direct effect on the
release of luteinizing hormone, which affects the length and timing of the
menstrual cycle.
The results will be published in June in the journal Biology of
Reproduction
and currently appear on the journal's Web site.
"It has long been recognized that female pheromones can affect the
menstrual
cycles of other women," said George Preti, a member of the Monell Center
and
adjunct professor of dermatology in Penn's School of Medicine. "These
findings are the first to do***ent mood and neuroendocrine effects of male
pheromones on females."
In a study led by Preti and colleague Charles J. Wysocki, extracts from
the
underarms of male volunteers were applied to the upper lip of 18 women
ages
25 to 45. During the six hours of exposure to the compound, the women were
asked to rate their mood using a fixed scale.
"Much to our surprise, the women re****ted feeling less tense and more
relaxed during exposure to the male extract," said Wysocki, a member of
the
Monell Center and adjunct professor of animal biology in Penn's School of
Veterinary Medicine. "This suggests that there may be much more going on
in
social settings like singles bars than meets the eye."
After the women's exposure to the underarm extract, further testing
revealed
a ****ft in blood levels of luteinizing hormone. Levels of this
reproductive
hormone, produced in pulses by the pituitary gland, typically surge right
before ovulation but also experience hundreds of smaller peaks throughout
the menstrual cycle.
Preti and Wysocki found that application of male underarm secretions
hastened onset of these smaller pulses. Duration to the next pulse of
luteinizing hormone was shortened by an average 20 percent, from 59 to 47
minutes.
Preti and Wysocki are now looking at the several dozen individual
compounds
that make up male perspiration to determine which may be responsible for
the
effects they observed. They also plan to study whether female pheromones
can
affect men's moods or physiological functions.
"This may open the door to pharmacological approaches to manage onset of
ovulation or the effects of premenstrual syndrome or even natural products
to aid relaxation," Wysocki said. "By determining how pheromones impact
mood
and endocrine response, we might be able to build a better male odor:
molecules that more effectively manipulate the effects we observed."
The underarm extracts used in the study came from men who bathed with
fragrance-free soap and refrained from deodorant use for four weeks. The
extracts were blended to avoid reactions to individual men's odors. None
of
the women involved in the study discerned that male sweat had been applied
right under their noses; some believed they were involved in a study of
alcohol, perfume or even lemon floor wax.
Half the women received three applications of the male secretions during a
six-hour period, followed three controlled exposures to ethanol, used as a
control substance, over a six-hour period. For the other half, the regimen
was reversed. The women did not re****t feeling any more or less energetic,
sensuous, tired, calm, ***y, anxious, fatigued or active after exposure to
male perspiration.
Preti and Wysocki are joined in the Biology of Reproduction paper by
co-authors Kurt T. Barnhart and Steven J. Sondheimer of Penn's Department
of
Obstetrics and Gynecology and James J. Leyden of Penn's Department of
Dermatology. Their work is sponsored by the National Institutes of Health.
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