title: Age-associated loss of selectivity in human olfactory sensory neurons.
abstract: We report a cross-sectional study of olfactory impairment with age based on both odorant-stimulated responses of human olfactory sensory neurons (OSNs) and tests of olfactory threshold sensitivity. A total of 621 OSNs from 440 subjects in 2 age groups of younger (≤ 45 years) and older (≥ 60 years) subjects were investigated using fluorescence intensity ratio fura-2 imaging. OSNs were tested for responses to 2 odorant mixtures, as well as to subsets of and individual odors in those mixtures. Whereas cells from younger donors were highly selective in the odorants to which they responded, cells from older donors were more likely to respond to multiple odor stimuli, despite a loss in these subjects' absolute olfactory sensitivity, suggesting a loss of specificity. This degradation in peripheral cellular specificity may impact odor discrimination and olfactory adaptation in the elderly. It is also possible that chronic adaptation as a result of reduced specificity contributes to observed declines in absolute sensitivity.
authors.affiliation: Monell Chemical Senses Center, Philadelphia, PA, USA.
authors.forename: Nancy E
authors.initials: NE
authors.lastname: Rawson
authors.forename: George
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Gomez
authors.forename: Beverly J
authors.initials: BJ
authors.lastname: Cowart
authors.forename: Andres
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Kriete
authors.forename: Edmund
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Pribitkin
authors.forename: Diego
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Restrepo
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000375:Aging; D002118:Calcium / Q000378:metabolism; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D004192:Discrimination, Psychological / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D016257:Fura-2; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009812:Odorants; D009831:Olfactory Mucosa / Q000166:cytology*; D018034:Olfactory Receptor Neurons / Q000502:physiology*; D012684:Sensory Thresholds / Q000502:physiology; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D002118:Calcium; D016257:Fura-2
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