How odors activate the stress response and inflammatory mediators!

"enhanced IL-6 activity may stimulate the HPA axis at the level of the hypothalamus via a CRH-mediated mechanism For example, inhalation of citralva, a sample used during the study, may enhance the stress response or may itself act as a stress."


Effects of Odorants on the Hypothalamic-Pituitary-Adrenal Axis and Interleukin-6 (IL-6) and IL-6 Receptor mRNA Expression in Rat Hypothalamus after Restraint Stress -- Komori et al. 28 (9): 767 -- Chemical Senses: "enhanced IL-6 activity may stimulate the HPA axis at the level of the hypothalamus (Naitoh et al., 1988; Fukata et al., 1989; Navarra et al., 1991; Tominaga et al., 1991) via a CRH-mediated mechanism (Navarra et al., 1991; Lyson and McCann, 1992), i.e. inhalation of citralva may enhance the stress response or may itself act as a stress."