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Subconscious olfactory influences of stimulant and relaxant odors on immune function

  • Rhinology
  • Published:
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Abstract

Brain and immune system are linked by bidirectional pathways so that changes of the central nervous system may influence various immune functions. The olfactory system may be involved in this interaction. In most odor studies subjects are aware of an odor exposure, using frequently high odor concentrations or long-term exposures without controls. In this pilot study, the potential immune effects of short-term odor exposure were examined in 32 blinded subjects (16 male, 16 female). Subjects were exposed without their knowledge either to a stimulant essential oil (grapefruit, fennel, pepper), a no-odor control or a relaxant essential oil (lavender, patchouli, rose) during a set of psychological questionnaires for 30 min at three separate visits. Activity of neutrophil granulocytes (CXCL8 release, CD16) and peripheral blood concentrations of mainly neutrophil-related immunological markers were measured. We tested the triple of stimulant odor, control and relaxant odor for every subject in a model which assumed opposite effects of the stimulant and the relaxant odor. This hypothesis was falsified by our experimental data, as no significant effect was observed for the parameters tested. The human immune functions tested in our study are not modulated by short-term odor exposure in blinded subjects. Further studies should directly dissect possible differences between long-term and short-term exposures of non-blinded subjects versus blinded subjects.

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Acknowledgments

We are grateful to Petra Altenhoff for excellent technical support. Especially we thank Dr. Marcus Eh and Dr. Sabine Widder (Symrise GmbH & Co. KG) for donation and analysis of essential oils used, for providing a machine for air distribution of essential oils, for financial support and for valuable discussion. We thank Dr. André Scherag (Institute for Medical Informatics, Biometry and Epidemiology, University Hospital Essen) for his excellent support in the statistical analysis.

Conflict of interest

This study was funded in part by Symrise AG (Holzminden, Germany), a producer of flavors and fragrances. There are no patents, products in development or marketed products to declare. No additional external funding was received for this study. The funders were involved in study design, performed analysis of essential oil components and had possibly delayed the publication by 12 weeks, but had no further role in data collection and analysis, decision to publish or preparation of the manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Otorhinolaryngology, University Hospital Essen, Hufelandstraße 55, 45122, Essen, Germany

    Sokratis Trellakis, Cornelia Fischer, Alena Rydleuskaya, Kirsten Bruderek, Jens Greve, Stephan Lang & Sven Brandau

  2. Department of Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy, University Hospital Essen, Essen, Germany

    Sefik Tagay

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  1. Sokratis Trellakis
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  2. Cornelia Fischer
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  3. Alena Rydleuskaya
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Correspondence to Sokratis Trellakis.

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Trellakis, S., Fischer, C., Rydleuskaya, A. et al. Subconscious olfactory influences of stimulant and relaxant odors on immune function. Eur Arch Otorhinolaryngol 269, 1909–1916 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00405-011-1876-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00405-011-1876-4

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