Chemosignaling of fear in humans: A case of male-female asymmetry.

Jasper de Groot, Monique Smeets, Gün Semin

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contributionAcademicpeer-review

Abstract

Sex differences in the human olfactory function reportedly exist for olfactory sensitivity, odorant identification and memory, and tasks in which odors are rated based on psychological features such as familiarity, intensity, pleasantness, and others. Which might be the neural bases for these behavioral differences? The number of cells in olfactory regions, and especially the number of neurons, may represent a more accurate indicator of the neural machinery than volume or weight, but besides gross volume measures of the human olfactory bulb, no systematic study of sex differences in the absolute number of cells has yet been undertaken. In this work, we investigate a possible sexual dimorphism in the olfactory bulb, by quantifying postmortem material from 7 men and 11 women (ages 55-94 years) with the isotropic fractionator, an unbiased and accurate method to estimate absolute cell numbers in brain regions. Female bulbs weighed 0.132 g in average, while male bulbs weighed 0.137 g, a non-significant difference; however, the total number of cells was 16.2 million in females, and 9.2 million in males, a significant difference of 43.2%. The number of neurons in females reached 6.9 million, being no more than 3.5 million in males, a difference of 49.3%. The number of non-neuronal cells also proved higher in women than in men: 9.3 million and 5.7 million, respectively, a significant difference of 38.7%. The same differences remained when corrected for mass. Results demonstrate a sex-related difference in the absolute number of total, neuronal and non-neuronal cells, favoring women by 40-50%. It is conceivable that these differences in quantitative cellularity may have functional impact, albeit difficult to infer how exactly this would be, without knowing the specific circuits cells make. However, the reported advantage of women as compared to men may stimulate future work on sex dimorphism of synaptic microcircuitry in the olfactory bulb.
Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationAChemS 36th Annual Meeting
Publication statusUnpublished - 2014
EventAchemS 36th Annual Meeting - Bonita Springs, FL, United States
Duration: 9 Apr 201412 Apr 2014

Conference

ConferenceAchemS 36th Annual Meeting
Country/TerritoryUnited States
CityBonita Springs, FL
Period9/04/1412/04/14

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Chemosignaling of fear in humans: A case of male-female asymmetry.'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this