Name: 【TED】Jennifer Pluznick: You smell with your body, not just your nose (You smell with your body, not just your nose | Jennifer Pluznick)
Uploaded: 2017-12-26T18:14:31.000Z
Duration: 7 min 5 s
Description: Thousands of YouTube videos with English-Chinese subtitles! Now you can learn to understand native speakers, expand your vocabulary, and improve your pronunciation...

how many different scents do you think you can smell,

One study estimates that humans can detect up to one trillion different odors.

but your nose has the molecular machinery to make it happen.

each one patiently waiting to be activated by the odor,

It turns out we humans, like all vertebrates,

In fact, more of our DNA is devoted to genes for different olfactory receptors

Could olfactory receptors be doing something else

In 1991, Linda Buck and Richard Axel uncovered the molecular identity

work which ultimately led to a Nobel Prize.

we all assumed that these receptors were only found in the nose.

a report emerged of an olfactory receptor expressed in a tissue

We now know that these receptors are found all over the body,

including in some pretty unexpected places --

Well, we know that olfactory receptors act as sensitive chemical sensors

that's how they mediate our sense of smell.

It turns out they also act as sensitive chemical sensors

Now, I'm not saying that your liver can detect the aroma of your morning coffee

Rather, after you drink your morning coffee,

your liver might use an olfactory receptor

to chemically detect the change in concentration

of a chemical floating through your bloodstream.

Many cell types and tissues in the body use chemical sensors,

to keep track of the concentration of hormones, metabolites

and some of these chemosensors are olfactory receptors.

and you need a specialized chemical sensor

that will allow you to keep track of a specific molecule,

of an olfactory receptor found outside the nose

showed that human sperm express an olfactory receptor,

and that sperm with this receptor will seek out the chemical

That is, the sperm will swim toward the ligand.

by sniffing out the area with the highest ligand concentration?

I like this example because it clearly demonstrates

that an olfactory receptor's primary job is to be a chemical sensor,

it can influence how you perceive a smell,

Olfactory receptors have been implicated in muscle cell migration,

in helping the lung to sense and respond to inhaled chemicals,

Similarly, taste receptors once thought to be found only in the tongue,

are now known to be expressed in cells and tissues throughout the body.

that the light receptors in our eyes also play a role in our blood vessels.

we work on trying to understand the roles of olfactory receptors and taste receptors

The kidney is a central control center for homeostasis.

it makes sense that a homeostatic control center would be a logical place

We've identified a number of different olfactory and taste receptors

is known to be expressed in cells and tissues

that are important in the regulation of blood pressure.

Surprisingly, this receptor was found to respond

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【TED】Jennifer Pluznick: You smell with your body, not just your nose (You smell with your body, not just your nose | Jennifer Pluznick)

ultimately

perceive

assume

context