In a discovery suggesting that odors may have a far more
important role in life than previously believed, scientists have found that
heart, blood, lung and other cells in the body have the same receptors for
sensing odors that exist in the nose. It opens the door to questions about
whether the heart, for instance, “smells” that fresh-brewed cup of coffee or
cinnamon bun, according to the research leader, who spoke here today at the
245th National Meeting & Exposition of the American Chemical Society, the
world’s largest scientific society.
Peter Schieberle, Ph.D., an international authority on food
chemistry and technology, explained that scientists thought that the nose had a
monopoly on olfactory receptors. Located on special cells in the mucus-covered
olfactory epithelium in the back of the nose, olfactory receptors are docking
ports for the airborne chemical compounds responsible for the smell of food and
other substances.