PERCEPTION OF VOLATILE CHEMICALS BY THE OLFACTORY AND TRIGEMINAL SYSTEMS

嗅神经和三叉神经经常同时受到刺激 挥发性化学刺激物 气味通常是丰富的质量，但 这些神经输入提供信息的程度 关于刺激的各种属性还不清楚。 结果 上一个供资期间进行的实验表明， 三叉神经的活动提供的气味信息很少 质量. 这与常见的经验形成鲜明对比：许多属性， 例如，在一个实施例中，刺痛、冷却、燃烧等，与激活 三叉神经 为了进一步探索鼻- 三叉神经的信息影响对气味的整体感知，我们 设计一种测量三叉神经活动的方法， 利用了判断鼻子哪一侧 由刺激物刺激（偏侧化）。 我们建议测量， 第一次，许多气味的偏侧阈值， 具有完整嗅觉（嗅觉正常）的个体和具有 嗅觉障碍（嗅觉缺失），以确定 嗅觉系统的激活（气味检测的阈值）和 化学感觉的出现（偏侧化阈值）。 此外，我们将研究化学反应和 在感知挥发性化学物质时的嗅觉。 的结果 这些调查将构成我们将 构建一个新的临床测试，以评估功能激活的 三叉神经 经过开发和验证，我们希望 将该测试纳入所执行的一系列评估中， 对那些被转诊到诊所进行化学感受的人来说， 评价

The olfactory and trigeminal nerves are often stimulated simultaneously by volatile chemical irritants. Odors are typically rich in quality, but the extent to which each of these neural inputs provides information about various attributes of the stimulus is unclear. Results of experiments conducted during the previous funding period suggest that activity in the trigeminal nerve provides little information about odor quality. This stands contrast to common experience: many attributes, e.g., sting, cool, burn, etc., have been associated with activation of the trigeminal nerve. To explore further the extent to which nasal- trigeminal information impacts on overall perception of odorants, we devise a method for measuring activation of the trigeminal nerve that takes advantage of the ability to determine which side of the nose is stimulated by an irritant (lateralization). We propose to measure, for the first time, lateralization thresholds for numerous odorants in individuals who have intact olfaction (normosmics) and those who have olfactory impairment (anosmic) to determine the relationship between activation of the olfactory system (threshold for odor detection) and the emergence of chemesthetic sensation (threshold for lateralization). Furthermore, we will examine the interactions between chemesthesis and olfaction during the perception of volatile chemicals. The results of these investigations will form the foundation upon which we will construct a new clinical test to assess the functional activation of the trigeminal nerve. After development and validation, we hope to incorporate this test into the battery of assessments that are performed on individuals who are referred to the Clinic for chemosensory evaluation.