A role for lung retention in the sense of retronasal smell.

Abstract

In olfaction, odors typically engage the lungs on the way to the nose to evoke retronasal smell. This is most notable when the lung has a first pass effect during smoking/vaping, but also upon exhaling after sniffing an odor. The lungs act as a sink for odors, which can both reduce the retronasal odor concentration and the odor mixture makeup. Lung retention is a simple measure that quantifies the effectiveness of the sink. Lung retention has been studied in the context of environmental toxicology and is known for many volatile organic compounds. Available data on human lung retention suggests that the lungs may have a large impact on odor perception, and that this may depend heavily on the specifics of active sampling such as sniffing, smoking and vaping. Suggestions are included for transient measures and models of lung retention.