Mucus in the Nose Changes Perception of Smells, University of Tokyo Study

(PhysOrg.com) -- A new study in Japan has shown for the first time that enzymes in nasal mucus change the way we perceive smells. Ayumi Nagashima and Kazushige Touhara of the Applied Biological Chemistry department at the University of Tokyo decided to study the much-neglected nose mucus by extracting tiny amounts of it from mice, adding odorants (smell molecules), and then testing the chemical composition of the mixture.