J Neural Transm (Vienna). 2014 Feb;121(2):119-22. doi: 10.1007/s00702-013-1089-7.
While olfactory deficit is already known to be associated with early-stage Parkinson’s disease (PD), taste perception has not fully clarified so far. In this study, we investigated the taste performance in 61 patients with PD and 66 healthy controls (HC) using the Whole Mouth (WMT) and Taste Strip Tests (TST). In addition, we evaluated their olfactory function by means of the Sniffin’ Sticks Test (SST). TST score was significantly lower in PD patients than in HC (TST score 11.0 ± 2.8 vs. 12.2 ± 2.1; p<0.018) while WMT showed no difference. The olfactory evaluation confirmed the results reported in the literature with a significant reduction of the SST score in PD patients than in HC (SST score 7.0 ± 2.8 vs. 11.3 ± 2.8; p<0.0001). The conflicting results revealed by TST and WMT could rely on a taste impairment not detectable at supra-threshold concentration of tastes, typical of the daily life. Possible biological correlates of taste impairment in PD are discussed.
虽然嗅觉缺陷已被证实与帕金森病（PD）的早期阶段有关，但味觉感知迄今为止尚未完全阐明。在这项研究中，我们使用全口味觉测试（WMT）和味觉条测试（TST）对 61 名 PD 患者和 66 名健康对照者（HC）的味觉表现进行了研究。此外，我们通过嗅觉识别测试（SST）评估了他们的嗅觉功能。与 HC 相比，PD 患者的 TST 评分明显较低（TST 评分 11.0 ± 2.8 对 12.2 ± 2.1；p<0.018），而 WMT 则无差异。嗅觉评估结果证实了文献中的报道，PD 患者的 SST 评分明显低于 HC（SST 评分 7.0 ± 2.8 对 11.3 ± 2.8；p<0.0001）。TST 和 WMT 显示出的相互矛盾的结果可能依赖于日常生活中无法察觉的味觉阈下浓度的味觉损伤。讨论了 PD 患者味觉损伤的可能生物学相关性。
