CHEMOSENSORY CLINICAL RESEARCH CENTER

描述(由申请者提供)：申请资金支持莫内尔-杰斐逊化学传感临床研究中心(CCRC)的新项目。这个CCRC涉及莫内尔化学传感中心的科学家和托马斯·杰斐逊大学的内科医生之间的合作。与宾夕法尼亚大学、其他几所大学和费城退伍军人事务医学中心的医生和科学家也存在合作关系。它致力于临床味觉、嗅觉和化学刺激障碍的科学检查。通过对临床人群的多学科研究，CCRC科学家的目标是表征和了解化学感觉功能障碍的病因，提供关于人类化学感觉的机制和功能的信息，并制定治疗/应对化学感觉障碍的策略。CCRC包括一个行政核心单位、一个感官/医学核心单位和三个独立但高度相关的研究项目。这三个项目的总体目标分别是：1)评估慢性鼻窦炎患者嗅觉丧失的原因，如气流和气味沉积的改变，感受器周围因素和炎症介质的变化，并建立这些患者康复的预后；2)前瞻性评估慢性吸入剂暴露于化学品和颗粒物对鼻化学感觉功能的炎症影响，探索作用机制，并使用气流计算模型预测鼻部结构改变后的嗅觉功能；3)记录口腔癌放射治疗后味觉改变的大小、质量和时程，并从分子和细胞水平考察炎症因子对味觉组织的影响，探讨破坏的基础和恢复的预后。因此，在这三个项目中的每一个项目中，都将研究炎症因子在调节感觉丧失和恢复中的作用。通过患者招募、普通心理物理和医学评估以及数据库管理和统计评估的协调，将这些项目联系在一起是Sensory/Medical核心。该核心还将继续评估转诊的主诉为化学感觉功能障碍的患者，以确定其他临床感兴趣的问题，并完善关于这些功能障碍的性质、基础和影响的假设。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Funds are requested to support new projects in the Monell-Jefferson Chemosensory Clinical Research Center CCRC). This CCRC involves a collaboration between scientists at the Monell Chemical Senses Center and physicians at Thomas Jefferson University. Collaborative ties also exist with physicians and scientists at the University of Pennsylvania, several other Universities, and the Veterans Affairs Medical Center of Philadelphia. It is devoted to the scientific examination of clinical disorders in taste, smell and chemical irritation. Through the multidisciplinary study of clinical populations, the goals of CCRC scientists are to characterize and understand the etiologies of disorders in chemosensory function, provide information on mechanisms and functions of the chemical senses in humans, and develop strategies for treating/coping with chemosensory disorders. The CCRC entails an Administrative Core unit, a Sensory/Medical Core unit and three individual yet highly interrelated research Projects. The general aims of each of the three Projects, respectively, are to: 1) Evaluate the causal factors underlying smell loss in patients with chronic rhinosinusitus, such as alterations of air flow and odor deposition, peri-receptor factors, and inflammatory mediators, and establish the prognosis for recovery in these patients; 2) Prospectively evaluate the inflammatory impact of chronic inhalant exposure to chemicals and particulates on nasal chemosensory function, explore mechanisms of action, and use computational models of air flow to predict olfactory function following changes in nasal structure; 3) Document the magnitude, quality and time course for changes in taste perception following radiation treatment for oral cancer, and explore the bases for disruption and the prognosis for recovery, through the examination of the impact of inflammatory factors on gustatory tissue at the molecular and cellular levels. Thus, in each of the three Projects the role of inflammatory factors in mediating sensory loss and recovery will be investigated. Tying these projects together through patient recruitment, common psychophysical and medical assessment, and coordination of database management and statistical evaluation is the Sensory/Medical Core. This Core will also continue to evaluate patients referred with primary complaints of chemosensory dysfunction in order to identify additional questions of clinical interest and to refine hypotheses concerning the nature, bases and implications of those dysfunctions.