University of Dresden Medical School, Department of Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy, Fetscherstreet 74, 01307 Dresden, Germany; University of Gothenburg, Institute of Neuroscience and Physiology, Sahlgrenska University Hospital, Blå Stråket 5, 413 45 Gothenburg, Sweden.
University of Dresden Medical School, Department of Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy, Fetscherstreet 74, 01307 Dresden, Germany.
J Affect Disord. 2014 May;160:80-6. doi: 10.1016/j.jad.2013.12.026. Epub 2014 Jan 4.
Animal studies show a strong link between the loss of olfactory function and depressive behavior. We analyzed, whether olfactory function is a marker for depression in humans. If so, reduced olfactory function can be expected in depression that improves to level of normality after successful antidepressive treatment.
Twenty-seven female in-patients with depression were compared to 28 healthy age-matched women at the beginning and at the end of antidepressive therapy or at two visits, respectively. Olfactory function was assessed comprehensively including threshold, discrimination and identification testing, chemosensory event related potentials and olfactory functional magnetic resonance imaging.
At the beginning of psychotherapy the patients exhibited reduced olfactory discrimination, prolonged latencies of the event-related potential and reduced activation in secondary olfactory structures (thalamus, insula, and left middle orbitofrontal). After therapy, patients improved significantly in all of the parameters and consequently the differences between control group and patients vanished.
We conclude that olfaction is a marker for depression. However, the results are limited to a relatively selective sample of depressed women.
动物研究表明嗅觉功能丧失与抑郁行为之间存在很强的关联。我们分析了嗅觉功能是否是人类抑郁的一个标志物。如果是这样，那么在抗抑郁治疗成功后，嗅觉功能会得到改善，恢复到正常水平。
在抗抑郁治疗开始和结束时，我们比较了 27 名女性住院抑郁症患者和 28 名年龄匹配的健康女性。嗅觉功能评估包括阈值、辨别和识别测试、化学感觉事件相关电位和嗅觉功能磁共振成像。
在心理治疗开始时，患者表现出嗅觉辨别能力下降、事件相关电位潜伏期延长以及次级嗅觉结构（丘脑、脑岛和左侧中眶额皮层）激活减少。治疗后，患者在所有参数上均有显著改善，因此对照组和患者之间的差异消失。
我们得出结论，嗅觉是抑郁的一个标志物。然而，这些结果仅限于选择性的抑郁症女性样本。
