Coming up with perfume

Cells that hold the task of preventing the entry of strange objects into the human body seem to affect that person's characteristic smell. These scent-forming synthetic chemicals could one day be added to perfumes to help users seduce mates, according to a new study.

The study, published in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B, found that women who prefer perfumes contain an odorless substance that emulates the unique chemicals of the immune system excreted by the skin.

According to researchers, women like water
flowers smell like their immune systems. (Photo: Live Science)

Some people's immune systems may be incompatible with each other or lead to female births that are likely to be resistant to weak pathogens or tend to attack the cells of their own bodies. Therefore, if added to perfumery, synthetic chemicals can generate a specific subject's immune signal to attract the most compatible partners.

Manfred Milinski, a scientist at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Biology (Germany) and new research author, explains that vertebrates, from sticklebacks to humans, possess very toxic proteins. They are unique in their cells and they can help these cells recognize intruders from outside such as bacteria or viruses. And in these species, these specific immunological signs called ' MHC compatible tissue complexes ' (MHC) seem to be involved in their sexual partner selection process.

For example, studies show that women like sweat-soaked T-shirts from men who own MHCs that are not similar and not too different from their MHCs. Another study also showed that the MHC genes of people oriented their aroma preferences.

Cristina Davis, a researcher from the University of California (USA), commented, a new discovery revealed, the smell of human body contains signs that the body's immune system. In addition, 'the sense of smell can affect behaviors and one of them is the process of selecting mating objects'.