2023 Volume 30 Issue 1 Pages 1-8
The action mechanism of sensory deodorization "modulation", which changes the odor quality of malodors by mixing aromatic odors, remains largely unexplored. We therefore mixed n-valeric acid and a citrus fragrance which is expected to deodorize n-valeric acid and conducted a sensory evaluation test and human olfactory receptor response measurement. The sensory evaluation test showed a change in the odor quality of n-valeric acid without a change in the odor intensity, strongly suggesting the occurrence of "modulation". On the other hand, in the measurement of human olfactory receptor responses performed using human olfactory receptor-expressing cell array sensors that mimic human olfactory neurons, human olfactory receptor OR51E1 responded to n-valeric acid alone but not to fragrance alone. Fragrance delayed the peak of the response, extended the response time, and increased the intensity. From these results, it was inferred that the response of OR51E1 to n-valeric acid causes "modulation" by the allosteric action of fragrance on the receptor. The possibility was shown that the action mechanism of sensory deodorization will be clarified by quantitatively analyzing human olfactory receptors.
