Sniffing the human body volatile hexadecanal blocks aggression in men but triggers aggression in women

  • Sci Adv. 2021 Nov 19;7(47):eabg1530. doi: 10.1126/sciadv.abg1530.
Eva Mishor  1  2 ,  Daniel Amir  1  2 ,  Tali Weiss  1  2 ,  Danielle Honigstein  1  2 ,  Aharon Weissbrod  1  2 ,  Ethan Livne  1  2 ,  Lior Gorodisky  1  2 ,  Shiri Karagach  1  2 ,  Aharon Ravia  1  2 ,  Kobi Snitz  1  2 ,  Diyala Karawani  1  2 ,  Rotem Zirler  1  2 ,  Reut Weissgross  1  2 ,  Timna Soroka  1  2 ,  Yaara Endevelt-Shapira  1  2 ,  Shani Agron  1  2 ,  Liron Rozenkrantz  1  2 ,  Netta Reshef  1  2 ,  Edna Furman-Haran  1 ,  Heinz Breer  3 ,  Joerg Strotmann  3 ,  Tatsuya Uebi  4 ,  Mamiko Ozaki  4 ,  Noam Sobel  1  2
Affiliations
  • 1. Azrieli National Center for Brain Imaging and Research, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, Israel.
  • 2. Department of Neurobiology, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, Israel.
  • 3. Institute of Physiology, University of Hohenheim, Stuttgart, Germany.
  • 4. Department of Biology, Graduate School of Science, Kobe University, Kobe, Japan.
PMID: 34797713 DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.abg1530
Abstract

In terrestrial mammals, body volatiles can effectively trigger or block conspecific aggression. Here, we tested whether hexadecanal (HEX), a human body volatile implicated as a mammalian-wide social chemosignal, affects human aggression. Using validated behavioral paradigms, we observed a marked dissociation: Sniffing HEX blocked aggression in men but triggered aggression in women. Next, using functional brain imaging, we uncovered a pattern of brain activity mirroring behavior: In both men and women, HEX increased activity in the left angular gyrus, an area implicated in perception of social cues. HEX then modulated functional connectivity between the angular gyrus and a brain network implicated in social appraisal (temporal pole) and aggressive execution (amygdala and orbitofrontal cortex) in a sex-dependent manner consistent with behavior: increasing connectivity in men but decreasing connectivity in women. These findings implicate sex-specific social chemosignaling at the mechanistic heart of human aggressive behavior.

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