Chemical sensing: an approach to biological molecular mechanisms unsig difference spectroscopy.

Stimulation of preparations of rabbit olfactory epithelium with aqueous solutions containing the odorants linalool or inalyl isobutyrate, or both, initiates molecular changes that can be monitored by a specific decrease in absorbance at 267 nanometers. This change in absorbance appears to be associated with a change in macromolecular conformation which is initiated by formation of a complex involving the stimulant molecules.