GUSTATORY AND OLFACTORY CHANGES WITH AGE

描述(改编自《调查者摘要》)：概述 人类对味觉和嗅觉的心理物理研究表明， 随着年龄的增长，显著的化学感觉损失，这些损失可能会影响 营养状况和生活质量。嗅觉损失也可以减少 探测火灾、危险烟雾和污染环境的能力。 关于药物在这些与年龄相关的疾病中所起的作用，人们知之甚少 味觉和嗅觉的丧失。1988年，美国人在这方面花费271亿美元 处方药。在那一年，老年人占12% 占总人口的35%，但占处方的35% 药品支出。流行病学研究表明，平均人数 65岁以上社区居住的老年人使用的药物从2.9到 3.7种药物，这一数字显著增加到高达7.2 或者更多，适合养老院的老人。大多数关于味觉和气味的报道 药物的损失是基于临床报告，而不是 实验数据。这项提议的目的是使用量化 用实验方法测量人类使用的药物的效果 老年人的味觉和嗅觉。药物对味觉的影响 将评估年轻和老年受试者的外围知觉 通过心理物理技术在直接局部应用 把药物化合物传到舌头。专题中的实验对象 研究将不会服用任何药物。这些研究将被执行 因为药物被分泌到唾液中的浓度可以改变 味觉传导。药物化合物将在以下时间局部应用 浓度从0.1M到1 mM，以确定唾液浓度 一种能改变口味的药物。接触一种药物永远不会超过 千分之一的剂量。此外，老年患者还将接受味觉测试 并在医生给他们服用这些药物之前嗅到敏锐度 以及在治疗过程中。这将允许开发 将提供准确的味觉频率数据和 嗅觉由药物引起的变化。药物对人类免疫功能的影响 老年人的味觉和嗅觉将根据以下指标进行评估： 1)药物的治疗类别(例如，抗高血压、利尿剂、 抗胆碱酯血症)，2)外周受体或离子通道的类型 药物结合的受体(例如，胆碱能或多巴胺受体；钙 通道)；和/或3)药物的物理化学特性(例如， 脂类：水分配系数)。最终目标是找到方法 以减轻因使用药物而导致的味觉和嗅觉损失。

DESCRIPTION (Adapted from the Investigator's Abstract): An overview of human psychophysical studies of taste and smell indicates that there are significant chemosensory losses with age, and these losses can affect nutritional status and quality of life. Olfactory losses can also reduce the ability to detect fire, dangerous fumes, and polluted environments. Little is known about the role that medications play in these age-related losses of taste and smell. In 1988, Americans spent $27.1 billion on prescription medications. In that year, the elderly constituted 12 percent of the total population but accounted for 35 percent of the prescription drug expenditures. Epidemiological studies indicate that the mean number of medications used by community-dwelling elderly over 65 ranges from 2.9 to 3.7 medications, and this number increases significantly to as high as 7.2 or more for elderly in nursing homes. Most reports of taste and smell losses from medications are based on clinical reports rather than experimental data. The purpose of this proposal is to use quantitative experimental methods to measure the effect of medications used by the elderly on the senses of taste and smell. The effect of drugs on taste perception at the periphery will be assessed in young and elderly subjects by psychophysical techniques after direct topical application of the pharmaceutical compounds to the tongue. Experimental subjects in topical studies will be taking no medications. These studies will be performed because drugs are secreted into the saliva at concentrations that can modify taste transduction. Pharmaceutical compounds will be applied topically at concentrations from 0.1 M to 1 mM to determine the salivary concentration of a drug that produces a taste change. Exposure to a drug will never exceed 1/1000 of a dose. In addition, elderly patients will be tested for taste and smell acuity prior to administration of these drugs by their physicians as well as during the course of treatment. This will permit the development of a data base that will provide accurate data on frequency of taste and smell changes that result from medications. The effect of medications on taste and smell perception in the elderly will be evaluated according to: 1) the therapeutic class of the drug (e.g., antihypertensive, diuretic, anticholinesteremic), 2) the type of peripheral receptor or ion channel to which the drug binds (e.g., cholinergic or dopamine receptor; calcium channel); and/or 3) the physicochemical characteristics of the drug (e.g., lipid:water partition coefficients). The ultimate goal is to find methods to alleviate taste and smell losses that result from use of medications.