Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Head and Neck surgery, First Hospital of Jilin University, Changchun, China.
J Neurosci Res. 2012 Sep;90(9):1693-700. doi: 10.1002/jnr.23054. Epub 2012 Jun 5.
Olfactory dysfunction is a common symptom in the patients with neurodegenerative disorders, particularly in Parkinson's disease (PD) and Alzheimer's disease (AD). Recently, studies of olfactory dysfunction have focused on its potential as a medication-independent biomarker for disease progression and as an early indicator for the diagnosis of neurodegenerative disorders. In the past decades, great achievements have been obtained in elucidating the neuroanatomy and the function of olfactory system, yet the pathogenesis of olfactory dysfunction in neurodegenerative disorders remains elusive. The neuropathologic changes of olfactory dysfunction in neurodegenerative diseases may involve the olfactory epithelium, olfactory bulb, primary olfactory cortices, and their secondary targets changes. This article summarizes the up-to-date knowledge on pathophysiological changes of the olfactory system in neurodegenerative disorders and attempts to find the association between olfactory dysfunction and neurodegenerative disorders.
嗅觉功能障碍是神经退行性疾病患者的常见症状，尤其是在帕金森病（PD）和阿尔茨海默病（AD）中。最近，嗅觉功能障碍的研究集中在其作为疾病进展的非药物相关生物标志物的潜力以及作为神经退行性疾病早期诊断的指标上。在过去的几十年中，人们在阐明嗅觉系统的神经解剖结构和功能方面取得了巨大的成就，但神经退行性疾病中嗅觉功能障碍的发病机制仍不清楚。神经退行性疾病中嗅觉功能障碍的神经病理学变化可能涉及嗅觉上皮、嗅球、初级嗅觉皮质及其二级靶标变化。本文总结了神经退行性疾病中嗅觉系统的病理生理变化的最新知识，并试图寻找嗅觉功能障碍与神经退行性疾病之间的关系。
