Hummel Thomas, Futschik Thomas, Frasnelli Johannes, Hüttenbrink Karl-Bernd
Smell and Taste Clinic, Department of Otorhinolaryngology, University of Dresden Medical School, Fetscherstr. 74, 01307, Dresden, Germany.
Toxicol Lett. 2003 Apr 11;140-141:273-80. doi: 10.1016/s0378-4274(03)00078-x.
The present investigation aimed to compare trigeminal nasal function of anosmic and hyposmic patients to healthy controls. Further, we aimed to study effects of age and gender on trigeminally mediated sensations following intranasal chemosensory stimulation. Participants were 35 patients with olfactory dysfunction (n=13: functional anosmia; n=22: hyposmia; age 28-69 years, mean age 56 years). Their results were compared with 17 normosmic subjects (28-82 years, mean 52 years). To analyze effects of age and gender in healthy subjects, an additional 24 healthy subjects were included (19-27 years; mean 24 years). Olfactory function was assessed using the 'Sniffin' Sticks' test kit (butanol odor threshold, odor discrimination, odor identification). The subjects' ability to lateralize odors was investigated for benzaldehyde and eucalyptol. Patients with olfactory dysfunction had lower scores in the lateralization task than controls (P<0.001) indicating decreased trigeminal sensitivity. Among anosmic patients scores were not different in relation to different causes of olfactory dysfunction (P>0.29). There was a weak, but significant, correlation between localization of eucalyptol and duration of olfactory dysfunction (P=0.017). When investigating normosmic subjects only, no gender-related difference was apparent for lateralization scores. However, older subjects had lower scores than younger ones (P<0.01). Results of partial correlational analyses controlling for age suggested a relation between the trigeminal and the olfactory systems. In conclusion, results of the present study indicate that patients with olfactory dysfunction have lower trigeminal sensitivity compared with normosmic controls. This seems to be independent of the cause of olfactory loss. The deficit appears to improve with duration of the olfactory dysfunction, possibly indicating adaptive mechanisms. Further, the data suggest an age-related decrease of intranasal trigeminal sensitivity in healthy subjects. Analyses additionally indicate a correlation between olfactory and trigeminal sensitivity.
本研究旨在比较嗅觉丧失和嗅觉减退患者与健康对照者的三叉神经鼻功能。此外，我们旨在研究年龄和性别对鼻内化学感觉刺激后三叉神经介导感觉的影响。参与者为35例嗅觉功能障碍患者（n = 13：功能性嗅觉丧失；n = 22：嗅觉减退；年龄28 - 69岁，平均年龄56岁）。将他们的结果与17名嗅觉正常的受试者（28 - 82岁，平均52岁）进行比较。为了分析年龄和性别对健康受试者的影响，又纳入了24名健康受试者（19 - 27岁；平均24岁）。使用“嗅棒”测试试剂盒评估嗅觉功能（丁醇气味阈值、气味辨别、气味识别）。研究了受试者对苯甲醛和桉叶油醇的气味定位能力。嗅觉功能障碍患者在气味定位任务中的得分低于对照组（P < 0.001），表明三叉神经敏感性降低。在嗅觉丧失患者中，不同嗅觉功能障碍原因的得分没有差异（P > 0.29）。桉叶油醇的定位与嗅觉功能障碍持续时间之间存在微弱但显著的相关性（P = 0.017）。仅研究嗅觉正常的受试者时，气味定位得分没有明显的性别差异。然而，年龄较大的受试者得分低于年龄较小的受试者（P < 0.01）。控制年龄的偏相关分析结果表明三叉神经系统与嗅觉系统之间存在关联。总之，本研究结果表明，与嗅觉正常的对照组相比，嗅觉功能障碍患者的三叉神经敏感性较低。这似乎与嗅觉丧失的原因无关。这种缺陷似乎随着嗅觉功能障碍持续时间的延长而改善，可能表明存在适应性机制。此外，数据表明健康受试者鼻内三叉神经敏感性存在与年龄相关的下降。分析还表明嗅觉敏感性与三叉神经敏感性之间存在相关性。
