Smell and Taste Clinic, Technische Universitat Dresden, Dresden, Germany; University of Wrocław, Faculty of Historical and Pedagogical Sciences, Institute of Psychology, Wroclaw, Poland.
Smell and Taste Clinic, Technische Universitat Dresden, Dresden, Germany; University of Wrocław, Faculty of Historical and Pedagogical Sciences, Institute of Psychology, Wroclaw, Poland.
Neurosci Biobehav Rev. 2022 Oct;141:104853. doi: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2022.104853. Epub 2022 Sep 5.
The sense of smell is interrelated with psychosocial functioning. Olfactory disorders often decrease quality of life but treatment options for people with olfactory loss are limited. Additionally, olfactory loss accompanies and precedes psychiatric and neurodegenerative diseases. Regular, systematic exposure to a set of odors, i.e., olfactory training (OT) has been offered for rehabilitation of the sense of smell in clinical practice. As signals from the olfactory bulb are directly projected to the limbic system it has been also debated whether OT might benefit psychological functioning, i.e., mitigate cognitive deterioration or improve emotional processing. In this review we synthesize key findings on OT utility in the clinical practice and highlight the molecular, cellular, and neuroanatomical changes accompanying olfactory recovery in people with smell loss as well as in experimental animal models. We discuss how OT and its modifications have been used in interventions aiming to support cognitive functions and improve well-being. We delineate main methodological challenges in research on OT and suggest areas requiring further scientific attention.
嗅觉与社会心理功能息息相关。嗅觉障碍常降低生活质量，但治疗嗅觉丧失的方法有限。此外，嗅觉丧失常伴随并先于精神和神经退行性疾病发生。在临床实践中，人们经常采用定期、系统地接触一组气味的方法，即嗅觉训练（OT），来恢复嗅觉。由于嗅球的信号直接投射到边缘系统，因此也有人争论 OT 是否可能有益于心理功能，即减缓认知恶化或改善情绪处理。在这篇综述中，我们综合了 OT 在临床实践中的应用的关键发现，并强调了嗅觉丧失患者以及实验动物模型中伴随嗅觉恢复的分子、细胞和神经解剖变化。我们讨论了 OT 及其改良方法如何用于干预以支持认知功能和改善幸福感。我们划定了 OT 研究中的主要方法学挑战，并提出了需要进一步关注的科学领域。
