↓ Skip to main content

New evidence that the MHC influences odor perception in humans: a study with 58 Southern Brazilian students

Overview of attention for article published in Hormones & Behavior, April 2005
Altmetric Badge

About this Attention Score

  • In the top 5% of all research outputs scored by Altmetric
  • Among the highest-scoring outputs from this source (#44 of 2,295)
  • High Attention Score compared to outputs of the same age (99th percentile)
  • High Attention Score compared to outputs of the same age and source (80th percentile)

Mentioned by

news
11 news outlets
blogs
4 blogs
twitter
10 X users
wikipedia
13 Wikipedia pages
reddit
1 Redditor
q&a
1 Q&A thread

Citations

dimensions_citation
85 Dimensions

Readers on

mendeley
197 Mendeley
You are seeing a free-to-access but limited selection of the activity Altmetric has collected about this research output. Click here to find out more.
Title
New evidence that the MHC influences odor perception in humans: a study with 58 Southern Brazilian students
Published in
Hormones & Behavior, April 2005
DOI 10.1016/j.yhbeh.2004.11.005
Pubmed ID
Authors

Pablo Sandro Carvalho Santos, Juliano Augusto Schinemann, Juarez Gabardo, Maria da Graça Bicalho

Abstract

Increasing evidence suggests a correlation between mate choice, odor preference, and genetic similarity at the Major Histocompatibility Complex (MHC) in a variety of animals, including our species. The MHC is a highly polymorphic group of genes that play an important role in the immunological self/nonself recognition. Its products have been reported to take part on the variety of compounds and reactions that together build an individual's body odor. It has been suggested, therefore, that animals use body odor as a guide to identify possible mates as MHC-similar or MHC-dissimilar from their own genotype. Preference for a MHC-dissimilar partner enhances MHC heterozygosity of an individual's offspring. The possible adaptive advantages are clear: it is a mechanism of avoiding inbreeding and MHC-heterozygous offspring may have enhanced immunocompetence. The aim of this study was to search, in our species, new evidence on the correlation between specificities at HLA-A and HLA-B and assessments of pleasantness regarding specific body odors. HLA is the name for the human MHC. Four olfactory sessions were performed with 58 young Southern Brazilian students, in order to investigate whether assessments of pleasantness of body odors from individuals correlate to a person's HLA phenotype. Body odors were collected via sweat and urine from all participants. Women smelled and scored all male odor samples and men did the same with all female samples. We found a significant correlation only when female smellers evaluated male sweat odors.

X Demographics

X Demographics

The data shown below were collected from the profiles of 10 X users who shared this research output. Click here to find out more about how the information was compiled.
Mendeley readers

Mendeley readers

The data shown below were compiled from readership statistics for 197 Mendeley readers of this research output. Click here to see the associated Mendeley record.

Geographical breakdown

Country Count As %
United States 3 2%
Switzerland 2 1%
Germany 2 1%
United Kingdom 2 1%
Malaysia 1 <1%
Czechia 1 <1%
Brazil 1 <1%
Netherlands 1 <1%
New Zealand 1 <1%
Other 3 2%
Unknown 180 91%

Demographic breakdown

Readers by professional status Count As %
Researcher 34 17%
Student > Ph. D. Student 31 16%
Student > Master 27 14%
Student > Bachelor 27 14%
Professor > Associate Professor 15 8%
Other 42 21%
Unknown 21 11%
Readers by discipline Count As %
Agricultural and Biological Sciences 75 38%
Psychology 31 16%
Medicine and Dentistry 14 7%
Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology 11 6%
Social Sciences 10 5%
Other 28 14%
Unknown 28 14%
Attention Score in Context

Attention Score in Context

This research output has an Altmetric Attention Score of 125. This is our high-level measure of the quality and quantity of online attention that it has received. This Attention Score, as well as the ranking and number of research outputs shown below, was calculated when the research output was last mentioned on 28 January 2024.
All research outputs
#332,749
of 25,371,288 outputs
Outputs from Hormones & Behavior
#44
of 2,295 outputs
Outputs of similar age
#343
of 74,414 outputs
Outputs of similar age from Hormones & Behavior
#2
of 10 outputs
Altmetric has tracked 25,371,288 research outputs across all sources so far. Compared to these this one has done particularly well and is in the 98th percentile: it's in the top 5% of all research outputs ever tracked by Altmetric.
So far Altmetric has tracked 2,295 research outputs from this source. They typically receive a lot more attention than average, with a mean Attention Score of 14.3. This one has done particularly well, scoring higher than 98% of its peers.
Older research outputs will score higher simply because they've had more time to accumulate mentions. To account for age we can compare this Altmetric Attention Score to the 74,414 tracked outputs that were published within six weeks on either side of this one in any source. This one has done particularly well, scoring higher than 99% of its contemporaries.
We're also able to compare this research output to 10 others from the same source and published within six weeks on either side of this one. This one has scored higher than 8 of them.