Highlights
- •This summarizes the effects of scent stimulation with grapefruit and lavender oils.
- •Scent of grapefruit oil (GFO) affected autonomic nerves and physiological phenomena.
- •Scent of lavender oil oppositely affected autonomic nerves and physiology to GFO.
- •Histamine is involved in the mechanism of changes induced by GFO and lavender oil.
- •The suprachiasmatic nucleus is implicated in the changes due to GFO and lavender oil.
Abstract
This review summarizes the effects of olfactory stimulation with grapefruit and lavender
oils on autonomic nerve activity and physiological function. Olfactory stimulation
with the scent of grapefruit oil (GFO) increases the activity of sympathetic nerves
that innervate white and brown adipose tissues, the adrenal glands, and the kidneys,
decreases the activity of the gastric vagal nerve in rats and mice. This results in
an increase in lipolysis, thermogenesis, and blood pressure, and a decrease in food
intake. Olfactory stimulation with the scent of lavender oil (LVO) elicits the opposite
changes in nerve activity and physiological variables. Olfactory stimulation with
scent of limonene, a component of GFO, and linalool, a component of LVO, has similar
effects to stimulation with GFO and LVO, respectively. The histamine H1-receptor antagonist,
diphenhydramine, abolishes all GFO-induced changes in nerve activity and physiological
variables, and the hitstamine H3-receptor antagonist, thioperamide, eliminates all
LVO-induced changes. Lesions to the hypothalamic suprachiasmatic nucleus and anosmic
treatment with ZnSO4 also abolish all GFO- and LVO-induced changes. These findings indicate that limonene
and linalool might be the active substances in GFO and LVO, and suggest that the suprachiasmatic
nucleus and histamine are involved in mediating the GFO- and LVO-induced changes in
nerve activity and physiological variables.
Abbreviations:
ASNA (adrenal sympathetic nerve activity), BAT (brown adipose tissue), BAT-SNA (brown adipose tissue-sympathetic nerve activity: BP, blood pressure), BT (body temperature), 2DG (2-deoxy-d-glucose), FFA (free fatty acid), GFO (grapefruit oil), GVNA (gastric vagal nerve activity), IP (intraperitoneal), LVO (lavender oil), RSNA (renal sympathetic nerve activity), SCN (suprachiasmatic nucleus), TMN (tuberomammillary nucleus), UCP (uncoupling protein), WAT (white adipose tissue), WAT-SNA (white adipose tissue-sympathetic nerve activity)Keywords
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Article info
Publication history
Published online: June 24, 2014
Accepted:
June 16,
2014
Received in revised form:
June 3,
2014
Received:
April 17,
2013
Identification
Copyright
© 2014 Elsevier B.V. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
