The Hindu Business Line : A dog’s wet nose ‘helps it smell’

LONDON: Have you ever wondered why a dog always has a wet nose? Not only it’s a sign of good health but it also helps the canine smell, says a new study. Researchers have carried out the study and found that a wet nose is essential to a dog’s keen sense of smell - the layer of mucus in the organ nose actually helps the man’s best friend to sniff out anything from cocaine to cancer.

In fact, according to them, before odour molecules can reach smell receptors, they must get through a layer of mucus and some molecules are absorbed quicker than others.

The mucus absorbs some molecules quicker than others helping to pre-sort and identify smells, ‘The Daily Telegraph’ reported. In their study, the researchers led by Brent Craven of Pennsylvania State University, used the MRI images of a dog’s nasal airwa ys to develop computer models of how actually air travels inside.

They found that different molecules are picked up at different points along the passages. The odour molecules are then latched on to by nerve cells which are much more abundant in dogs than in humans.

Research until now has focused on how receptors pick up different chemicals, but Craven was quoted by the British newspaper as telling the ‘New Scientist’: “We have shown that the sorting out of the different odorants before they even get to the receptor s is also important.” - PTI

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