It has been reported that over a third of a dog’s brain is devoted to scent detection. The amazing ability of dogs to recognize and analyze scents is based upon the 220 million scent receptors in their brains (compared to the 20 million scent receptors in the human brain).

Dogs have been known to naturally recognize scents that predict epileptic seizures in their owners, an alert diabetic owners of a threatening hypoglycemic crash. A BBC story from Britain concerns a dog who recognized that a mole on his owner was cancerous (link below). Now a company has been formed to train dogs to identify cancer in a test tube (website below).

The hope is that this natural ability of dogs can be replicated in the laboratory with the development of a mechanical ‘nose’. Touradj Soluki, PhD from the University of Maine is designing a machine to analyze the breath of cancer patients. His task is to separate the molecules in the breath samples by the weight of the molecule in hopes of determining the still unknown biomarkers of cancer.

The link to Dr Soluki’s research study is:  http://www.clinicalconnection.com/exp/ExpandedPatientViewStudy243045.aspx

For More Information:

The Dana Foundation. Danapress.typepad.com “Dogs Detect Disease” February 25, 2011

http://www.clinicalconnection.com/exp/ExpandedPatientViewStudy243045.aspx

Cancer and Bio-Detection Dogs http://medicaldetectiondogs.org.uk/index.php

BBC- News  Cancer Detecting Dog Story http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JZd4rKiyBe4