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Communication Dans Un Congrès Chemical Senses Année : 2011

Unconditional response to offensive smells: what we learn from newborns'reactions

Résumé

Years after years, the accumulation of results permits us to better. understand the development of human food preferences during the. lifespan. The foetal and neonatal periods appear to be very important. in this process. Neonates are attracted to volatile compounds. being present in the amniotic environment (Marlier et al., 1997). Women who consumed garlic, alcohol, anise, or carrot flavour in. late pregnancy produce offsprings that manifest positive responses. towards these odorants, for durations ranging from hours, days to. months (Hepper, 1995; Faas et al., 2000; Schaal et al., 2000; Mennella. et al., 2001). After birth, the exposition to an artificial odorant. (camomile) spread on the breast at each breastfeeding episode starting. from birth induces a preferential orientation of 3-4 day-olds. newborns for it. Further, the preference for the camomile, in comparison. to another artificial odorant, stays stable during at least two. years (Delaunay-El Allam et al., 2006). As a re´sume´, these results could lead to the idea that all odorants. inevitably become attractive upon positive exposition, e.g. in the. context of feeding. However, recent results show that the hedonic. evaluation of some compounds seems not to change substantially. with experience. Recently, application of GC-Olfactory analyses of the volatile. compounds of the key fluids of the young human_ environments. show that amniotic fluid (AF) contains AND and human milk. (HM) AND and But A. Further, AND is present in AF and. HM at a higher concentration than the newborns_ capacities would. require to detect it. Now, in spite of a long familiarization to AND. during foetal life and a regular associations of AND and But A with. breastfeeding, these two compounds are persistently highly negatively. evaluated. Comparing the responses of newborns and adults. in reaction to saturated solutions of androstenone (AND) or butanoic. acid (But A), it appears that these compounds remain mainly. negatively evaluated between these two periods of life. The frequency. of negative reactions to AND is lower in adults than in newborns. (42.3% vs. 74%; Chi2 test; p<0.05). However, this decrease. appears to be low with regard to the exposition time of foetus. and newborns to this compound. More surprising, the frequency. of negative reactions to But A increases between newborns and. adults (62.5% vs. 100%; Chi2 test; p<0.01). So, contrary to Engen who maintained that ‘‘odor preferences are. absent at birth and acquired with age’’ (1982), the present studies. about the newborns_ reactions teach us that some preferences seem. not possible to be acquired. So, some odorants seem to be unconditionally. offensive. Delaunay-El Allam (2006) Infant Behav Dev, 29:308–21. Engen (1982) The perception of odours, p. 130. Faas (2000) Alcohol, 22:7–17. Hepper (1995) Int J Prenat Perinat Psychol Med, 7:147–51. Marlier (1997) C R Acad Sci, 320:999–1005. Mennella (2001) Pediatrics, 107:1–6. Schaal (2000) Chem Senses, 25:729–37.
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Dates et versions

hal-01122966 , version 1 (04-03-2015)

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  • HAL Id : hal-01122966 , version 1
  • PRODINRA : 244946

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Sébastien Doucet, Constanze Hartmann, Ralf Dittrich, Robert Soussignan, Benoist Schaal, et al.. Unconditional response to offensive smells: what we learn from newborns'reactions. 20. Congress of the european chemoreception research organisation (ECRO), Sep 2010, Avignon, France. 1 p. ⟨hal-01122966⟩
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