WOMEN suffering from premenstrual syndrome may soon get instant relief from a
mix of pheromones, the airborne chemical messengers best known for their role in
animal mating behaviour. They鈥檒l get the pheromones in a simple nasal spray.
The spray鈥檚 makers claim it will free women from the irritability, depression
and other symptoms of premenstrual syndrome (PMS) and the more severe
premenstrual dysphoric disorder (PMDD). Early tests on 20 women show that the
spray eased both mood disorders and physical symptoms like breast pain.
PMS affects up to two out of five women of childbearing age. Many researchers
now think the condition is sparked by fluctuating hormones affecting brain
activity. As a treatment doctors often prescribe mood-altering drugs such as
Prozac, which works by elevating serotonin levels in the brain.
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Human pheromones are powerful mediators of sexual attraction, anxiety and
hormone-related disorders, says David Berliner, one of the founders of Pherin
Pharmaceuticals of Mountain View, California, the company developing the
spray.
For years, few researchers believed human pheromones existed, but over the
past decade Berliner and others have shown that these chemicals, exuded from
human skin, can induce calmness in the opposite sex
(快猫短视频, 25 January 1997, p 36).
The chemicals are detected by a specialised organ in the
nose, called the vomeronasal organ or VNO.
To target premenstrual syndrome, Pherin has developed a pheromone-like
compound or 鈥渧omeropherin鈥� known as PH80. With each inhalation, PH80 binds to
receptors in the VNO. Nerve cells then speed the message to the hypothalamus,
the part of the brain dedicated to maintaining homeostasis, the body鈥檚 chemical
balance.
Because the vomeropherin has a direct line to the brain, relief is immediate.
The effect lasts 2 to 4 hours, says Berliner. Pherin is now setting up full
clinical trials of the spray. 鈥淚t鈥檚 an intriguing and novel approach,鈥� says
Bruce Kessel, a specialist in PMS at the University of Hawaii.
Functional MRI scans show that a whiff of PH80 stimulates a region of the
hypothalamus thought to affect PMS. The hypothalamus is involved in both the
central nervous system and the endocrine system, regulating sexual drive,
anxiety, fear and appetite among other traits. Berliner鈥檚 team is now developing
different vomeropherins which they hope will target these behaviours.