Department of Internal Medicine, Medical University of Graz, Graz, Austria.
BioTechMed-Graz, Graz, Austria.
Sci Rep. 2018 Jan 22;8(1):1296. doi: 10.1038/s41598-018-19438-3.
Olfactory function is a key sense for human well-being and health, with olfactory dysfunction having been linked to serious diseases. As the microbiome is involved in normal olfactory epithelium development, we explored the relationship between olfactory function (odor threshold, discrimination, identification) and nasal microbiome in 67 healthy volunteers. Twenty-eight subjects were found to have normal olfactory function, 29 had a particularly good sense of smell ("good normosmics") and 10 were hyposmic. Microbial community composition differed significantly between the three olfactory groups. In particular, butyric acid-producing microorganisms were found to be associated with impaired olfactory function. We describe the first insights of the potential interplay between the olfactory epithelium microbial community and olfactory function, and suggest that the microbiome composition is able to mirror and potentially shape olfactory function by producing strong odor compounds.
嗅觉功能是人类健康和幸福的关键感知能力，嗅觉功能障碍与严重疾病有关。由于微生物组参与正常的嗅觉上皮发育，我们探索了 67 名健康志愿者的嗅觉功能（气味阈值、辨别、识别）与鼻腔微生物组之间的关系。发现 28 名受试者嗅觉功能正常，29 名受试者嗅觉特别灵敏（“良好的嗅觉正常者”），10 名受试者嗅觉迟钝。三种嗅觉组之间的微生物群落组成存在显著差异。特别是，产生丁酸的微生物与嗅觉功能受损有关。我们描述了嗅觉上皮微生物群落与嗅觉功能之间潜在相互作用的第一个见解，并提出微生物组组成能够通过产生强烈的气味化合物来反映和潜在地塑造嗅觉功能。
