Key takeaways
- Kao Corporation has developed ScentVista 400, a technology that analyses all 400 human olfactory receptors.
- The breakthrough enables accurate odour mapping using cultured cells, overcoming previous research limitations.
- Findings reveal that scent perception depends on receptor activation patterns, not just individual molecules.
- This innovation could transform fragrance formulation, reduce raw material use, and improve deodorising effects.
Japanese beauty multinational Kao Corporation has unveiled new technology that can analyse more than 400 human olfactory receptors in the nose.
Decoding the human sense of smell: Kao’s scientific breakthrough
The technology, ScentVista 400, maps odour recognition using cultured cells, overcoming barriers in receptor surface expression.
Researchers identified specific amino acids that prevent receptors from appearing on the surface of cultured cells. By replacing these amino acids with alternatives, almost all receptors were successfully expressed on the cell surface, enabling odour recognition.
The technology detects whether an odorant is pleasant or unpleasant by emitting light, with the intensity confirming the receptor’s response.
When investigating human olfactory receptor responses, results showed that similar odours produce similar receptor response patterns.
From rose oil to indole: what Kao’s research reveals about odours
Kao cites rose oil, made from petals, and geranium oil, extracted from leaves and stems. Despite coming from different flowers and plant parts, the two ingredients have similar scents, and similar receptor response patterns.
However, similar smells can differ in receptor response patterns when presented at different concentrations. For example, indole has a pleasant, jasmine-like floral scent at low concentrations but an unpleasant, faecal odour at high concentrations.
Kao says these findings demonstrate that the human sense of smell is based on patterns of olfactory receptor activation.
Kao, which owns brands such as Molton Brown and Oribe, aims to “advance understanding of the human sense of smell.” Its Sensory Science Research Laboratory was the first in the world to “successfully express on the surface of cultured cells almost all of the approximately 400 types of human olfactory receptors.”
“In order to investigate how humans sense odours, it is necessary to ascertain how olfactory receptors respond when they recognise odourants. Because direct experimentation within the human nose is not feasible, researchers commonly use cultured cells instead to express olfactory receptors,” said Kao Corporation in a statement.
In the human nose, receptors are present on the cell surface. But on cultured cells, they often fail to localise on the surface and remain inside the cell, blocking them from detecting odourants. Until now, only 10% of human olfactory receptors had been successfully studied.
Kao began studying the subject in 2023 and identified an olfactory receptor that detects musk scent notes. The same technology was then used to analyse and identify all 400 olfactory receptors.
“These findings suggest the potential to transform the perception of unpleasant odours originating from people, clothing or living environments into pleasant ones through modification of response patterns using new fragrances with excellent deodorising effects,” said the company.
“This technology may allow the same odourant response patterns to be achieved using fewer and smaller quantities of fragrance raw materials.”
