Woo Cynthia C, Miranda Blake, Sathishkumar Mithra, Dehkordi-Vakil Farideh, Yassa Michael A, Leon Michael
Department of Neurobiology and Behavior, University of California, Irvine, Irvine, CA, United States.
Center for the Neurobiology of Learning and Memory, University of California, Irvine, Irvine, CA, United States.
Front Neurosci. 2023 Jul 24;17:1200448. doi: 10.3389/fnins.2023.1200448. eCollection 2023.
Cognitive loss in older adults is a growing issue in our society, and there is a need to develop inexpensive, simple, effective in-home treatments. This study was conducted to explore the use of olfactory enrichment at night to improve cognitive ability in healthy older adults.
Male and female older adults ( = 43), age 60-85, were enrolled in the study and randomly assigned to an Olfactory Enriched or Control group. Individuals in the enriched group were exposed to 7 different odorants a week, one per night, for 2 h, using an odorant diffuser. Individuals in the control group had the same experience with amounts of odorant. Neuropsychological assessments and fMRI scans were administered at the beginning of the study and after 6 months.
A statistically significant 226% improvement was observed in the enriched group compared to the control group on the Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test and improved functioning was observed in the left uncinate fasciculus, as assessed by mean diffusivity.
Minimal olfactory enrichment administered at night produces improvements in both cognitive and neural functioning. Thus, olfactory enrichment may provide an effective and low-effort pathway to improved brain health.
老年人认知能力下降在我们的社会中是一个日益严重的问题，因此需要开发廉价、简单且有效的居家治疗方法。本研究旨在探索夜间嗅觉强化对健康老年人认知能力的改善作用。
年龄在60 - 85岁的43名老年男性和女性参与了该研究，并被随机分为嗅觉强化组或对照组。强化组的个体每周使用气味扩散器接触7种不同的气味剂，每晚一种，持续2小时。对照组的个体接触等量的无味剂。在研究开始时和6个月后进行神经心理学评估和功能磁共振成像扫描。
在雷伊听觉词语学习测试中，与对照组相比，强化组有226%的显著改善，并且通过平均扩散率评估发现左侧钩束的功能有所改善。
夜间进行的最小程度的嗅觉强化可改善认知和神经功能。因此，嗅觉强化可能为改善大脑健康提供一条有效且省力的途径。
