It looks like you're using an Ad Blocker.
Please white-list or disable AboveTopSecret.com in your ad-blocking tool.
Thank you.
Some features of ATS will be disabled while you continue to use an ad-blocker.
In the past decade, scientists have discovered olfactory receptors lingering in strange places—in sperm, in the spine, and even in the kidneys. Now researchers in Hanns Hatt’s lab at Germany’s Ruhr University Bochum have identified scent receptors somewhere much more accessible: the skin. What’s more, these receptors appear to be involved in healing.
They found that Sandalore—a synthetic sandalwood oil used in aromatherapy, perfumes and skin care products—bound to an olfactory receptor in skin called OR2AT4. Rather than sending a message to the brain, as nose receptors do, the receptor triggered cells to divide and migrate, important processes in repairing damaged skin.
Cell proliferation increased by 32 per cent and cell migration by nearly half when keratinocytes [skin cells] in a test tube and in culture were mixed for five days with Sandalore.
Specifically, cell proliferation increased by 32 percent and cell migration by nearly 50 percent when cultured keratinocytes were exposed to high concentrations Sandalore—1,000 times greater than is needed to activated olfactory receptors in the nose—for five days. Another synthetic sandalwood scent, called Brahmanol, had a similar effect, while other versions, including the natural compound, had none. The researchers published their results in Journal of Investigative Dermatology.
And there is genetic variability in human receptors, so your receptor might be a bit different from your neighbour's. It leaves open the question of whether receptors might differ so much between individuals that the synthetic sandalwood that benefits one person might be neutral or even toxic to another.
Then there’s the slightly more sophisticated level of ignorance: “A synthetic is more likely to cause an allergic reaction.” Wrong again. A natural is more apt to do that. Take Sandalore, a synthetic molecule that smells like sandalwood. It’s exactly one molecule: C14H26O. Use Sandalore to get your sandalwood note, and there will be only one possibility of an allergic reaction. Use a natural sandalwood, which contains hundreds of molecules — alpha- and beta-Santalol, Spirosantalol, beta-Curcumene, (Z)-Nucifero, etc. — and you’ve got hundreds of different possible allergic reactions. Moreover, synthetic sandalwoods are ecofriendly. The sandalwood forests of India are being destroyed at a terrible rate, and the price of natural sandalwood is skyrocketing (currently heading up to $800 a pound). One perfumer I know told me that because of this, he now refuses to use natural materials in perfumes.
originally posted by: signalfire
I]... this may explain sexual behaviors and why some people not only 'smell' right, but feel right to touch, and others don't.
Perfume Book Read the reviews and you'll get the idea...
Sandalwood oil from the East Indian sandalwood tree (Santalum album L.) has been used as a precious ingredient since the beginning of perfumery, and woody compounds reminiscent of sandalwood oil are heavily used in modern perfumery. In the 1970s sandalwood oil became scarce and expensive. Chemists in fragrance companies therefore put considerable efforts into synthesizing cheaper substitutes that have similar odor qualities. Sandalwood oil consists mainly of α- and β-santalol (~70%), which also give the oil its woody scent. Over the years, development of synthetic molecules as substitutes for sandalwood oil has led to a series of successful compounds, including the ones that have been used in this study (Sandalore®, Ebanol®, Radjanol® and Javanol®, all produced by Givaudan), all derived from α-campholenic aldehyde.
originally posted by: angelchemuel
a reply to: kosmicjack
Exactly....personally I never use them ....barring washing powder or washing up liquid, which are always natural ingredients anyway.
Rainbows
Jane
originally posted by: angelchemuel
a reply to: kosmicjack
Exactly....personally I never use them ....barring washing powder or washing up liquid, which are always natural ingredients anyway.
Rainbows
Jane