PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Eva Mishor
AU  - Daniel Amir
AU  - Tali Weiss
AU  - Danielle Honigstein
AU  - Aharon Weissbrod
AU  - Ethan Livne
AU  - Lior Gorodisky
AU  - Shiri Karagach
AU  - Aharon Ravia
AU  - Kobi Snitz
AU  - Diyala Karawani
AU  - Rotem Zirler
AU  - Reut Weissgross
AU  - Timna Soroka
AU  - Yaara Endevelt-Shapira
AU  - Shani Agron
AU  - Liron Rozenkrantz
AU  - Netta Reshef
AU  - Edna Furman-Haran
AU  - Heinz Breer
AU  - Joerg Strotmann
AU  - Noam Sobel
TI  - Sniffing the Human Body-Volatile Hexadecanal Blocks Aggression in Men but Triggers Aggression in Women
AID  - 10.1101/2020.09.29.318287
DP  - 2020 Jan 01
TA  - bioRxiv
PG  - 2020.09.29.318287
4099  - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2020/12/14/2020.09.29.318287.short
4100  - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2020/12/14/2020.09.29.318287.full
AB  - Body-volatiles can effectively trigger or block conspecific aggression in terrestrial mammals. Here we tested whether hexadecanal (HEX), a human body-volatile implicated as a mammalian-wide social cue, impacts human aggression. Using validated behavioural paradigms, we observed a remarkable 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 behaviour: 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 behaviour: increasing connectivity in men, but decreasing connectivity in women. These findings implicate sex-specific social chemosignaling at the mechanistic heart of human aggressive behaviour.Competing Interest StatementWeizmann Institute Office of Technology Licensing (YEDA) has filed for a patent on using Hexadecanal to influence human behaviour and mood