TY - JOUR
T1 - Human axillary secretions influence women's menstrual cycles
T2 - The role of donor extract of females
AU - Preti, George
AU - Cutler, Winnifred Berg
AU - Garcia, Celso Ramon
AU - Huggins, George R.
AU - Lawley, Henry J.
N1 - Funding Information:
This study was supported in part by a grant from the National Science Foundation, BNS 82-03018T. he authors thank Gary K. Beauchampa nd Carol Christensenf or their constructive commentsc oncerningthe manuscript,M rs. Helen Liebich for her technical assistance,a nd Mrs. Janice Blescia for processingt he manuscript.D r. James Leyden, Dr. Ken McGinley, and Dr. Joseph Nicholson of the Duhring Laboratories are thanked for their screeningo f potentials ubjectsf or the correct axillary microfloraa nd odor production.
PY - 1986/12
Y1 - 1986/12
N2 - Menstrual synchrony in human females has previously been demonstrated among women attending a predominantly female university as well as among women attending coeducational universities. In each of these studies, women who spent the most time together were most likely to show the menstrual synchrony. In this experiment, the possibility that substances in axillary secretions might mediate this effect was tested using a prospective, double-blind research design and a combined axillary extract from a group of female donors. Female subjects who reported themselves to have normal (29.5 ± 3 day) cycles were exposed to the axillary extracts or blank/ethanol for 10 to 13 weeks. Recipients of the axillary extracts showed a significant reduction in "days' difference in menses onset" relative to the donor cycle, no change was evident for recipients of blank/ethanol. These results demonstrate that constituents from the axillary region of donor females can shift the time of menstrual onset of another group to conform with the donors' cycle and that this effect can occur even in the absence of social contact.
AB - Menstrual synchrony in human females has previously been demonstrated among women attending a predominantly female university as well as among women attending coeducational universities. In each of these studies, women who spent the most time together were most likely to show the menstrual synchrony. In this experiment, the possibility that substances in axillary secretions might mediate this effect was tested using a prospective, double-blind research design and a combined axillary extract from a group of female donors. Female subjects who reported themselves to have normal (29.5 ± 3 day) cycles were exposed to the axillary extracts or blank/ethanol for 10 to 13 weeks. Recipients of the axillary extracts showed a significant reduction in "days' difference in menses onset" relative to the donor cycle, no change was evident for recipients of blank/ethanol. These results demonstrate that constituents from the axillary region of donor females can shift the time of menstrual onset of another group to conform with the donors' cycle and that this effect can occur even in the absence of social contact.
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U2 - 10.1016/0018-506X(86)90009-7
DO - 10.1016/0018-506X(86)90009-7
M3 - Article
C2 - 3793028
AN - SCOPUS:0022845038
SN - 0018-506X
VL - 20
SP - 474
EP - 482
JO - Hormones and Behavior
JF - Hormones and Behavior
IS - 4
ER -