Mice can smell diseases

2009/09/01 Elhuyar Zientzia Iturria: Elhuyar aldizkaria

• Mikrobiologia
• Zoologia

Some neurogenetics from the University of Geneva (Switzerland) have found that several rodents can identify sick individuals through smell. Analyzing the genome of mice, five unknown odor receptors belonging to the immune system cell receptor family have been found. Through these receptors, immune system cells capture compounds emitted by blood pathogens and know which cell to attack. In turn, rodents also smell those who emit patients and move away from them.