Correlation between olfactory function, trigeminal sensitivity, and nasal anatomy in healthy subjects
Research output: Contribution to journal › Research article › Contributed › peer-review
Contributors
Abstract
Purpose: Few studies have investigated the correlation between chemosensory function (trigeminal and olfactory) and nasal volume in humans, even though nasal anatomy is crucial for the sense of smell. Aim of this study was to evaluate these correlations in normosmic subjects. Methods: Two hundred and fifty-six healthy volunteers (age range 19–69 years) participated. Olfactory function was investigated for (the rose-like) phenylethyl alcohol odor threshold and odor identification (OI) using the Sniffin’ Sticks test, while nasal structure was evaluated by acoustic rhinometry (AR); trigeminal sensitivity was assessed in terms of detection “thresholds” for the odorless carbon dioxide (CO2). Results: There were negative correlations between olfactory sensitivity at threshold level and minimum cross-sectional area (MCSA) in both nostrils. No significant correlations were found between OI and nasal anatomy. Similar to olfactory sensitivity, with regard to the trigeminal stimulus CO2 for the right nostril subjects were the more sensitive the smaller the MCSA. Conclusions: The current results emphasize the significance of nasal anatomy for trigeminal/olfactory threshold perception. Interestingly, correlations were not found between suprathreshold odor identification and nasal anatomy. Other than odor identification, odor thresholds appear to depend on subtle differences in nasal anatomy.
Details
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 1649-1654 |
Number of pages | 6 |
Journal | European archives of oto-rhino-laryngology |
Volume | 276 |
Issue number | 6 |
Publication status | Published - 1 Jun 2019 |
Peer-reviewed | Yes |
External IDs
PubMed | 30843174 |
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ORCID | /0000-0001-9713-0183/work/151438492 |
Keywords
ASJC Scopus subject areas
Keywords
- Acoustic rhinometry, Chemosensory system, Nasal anatomy, Olfactory function, Sniffin’ Sticks