Servello Adriana, Fioretti Alessandra, Gualdi Gianfranco, Di Biasi Claudio, Pittalis Angelo, Sollaku Saadi, Pavaci Silva, Tortorella Federica, Fusetti Marco, Valenti Marco, Masedu Francesco, Cacciafesta Mauro, Marigliano Vincenzo, Ettorre Evaristo, Pagliarella Martina
Department of Public Health and Infectious Disease, La Sapienza, University of Rome, Rome, Italy.
Department of Applied Clinical Sciences and Biotechnologies, University of L'Aquila, L'Aquila, Italy.
J Alzheimers Dis. 2015;48(2):395-402. doi: 10.3233/JAD-150232.
Olfactory dysfunction is present since the earliest stage of Alzheimer's disease (AD). In AD patients, the olfactory impairment has been correlated with atrophy of some structures of the olfactory system, but the role of the olfactory bulb remains unclear.
The aim of our work is to test if patients suffering from AD exhibit a statistically significant reduction of the average volume of the olfactory bulb (OBV) compared to healthy subjects.
78 subjects were enrolled in the study and divided into three groups: 28 healthy elderly (22 females, 6 males, mean age 69.4 ± 9.2), 25 patients with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) amnestic type (14 females, 11 males, mean age 74.5 ± 7.5), and 25 mild AD patients (14 females, 11 males, mean age 73.7 ± 6.8). Every subject underwent an MRI study of the olfactory bulb and an olfactory assessment with the Sniffin' Stick Extended Test.
The statistical analysis showed no correlation between the OBV and MCI or AD. Moreover, olfactory function and OBV were not correlated in any of the three groups.
The reduction of OBV does not seem to represent an index of neuronal damage in the earliest stages of AD.
嗅觉功能障碍在阿尔茨海默病（AD）的最早阶段就已出现。在AD患者中，嗅觉障碍与嗅觉系统某些结构的萎缩相关，但嗅球的作用仍不清楚。
我们研究的目的是测试与健康受试者相比，AD患者的嗅球平均体积（OBV）是否有统计学上的显著减少。
78名受试者参与了这项研究并被分为三组：28名健康老年人（22名女性，6名男性，平均年龄69.4±9.2岁），25名遗忘型轻度认知障碍（MCI）患者（14名女性，11名男性，平均年龄74.5±7.5岁），以及25名轻度AD患者（14名女性，11名男性，平均年龄73.7±6.8岁）。每位受试者都接受了嗅球的MRI研究以及使用嗅觉棒扩展测试进行的嗅觉评估。
统计分析表明，OBV与MCI或AD之间无相关性。此外，在三组中的任何一组中，嗅觉功能与OBV均无相关性。
OBV的减少似乎并不代表AD最早阶段神经元损伤的指标。
