Olfactory Function Assessment in Italian Subjects with Autism Spectrum Disorder

IF 1 4区医学 Q4 Neuroscience

Chemosensory Perception Pub Date : 2017-09-22 DOI:10.1007/s12078-017-9234-6

Roberta Fadda, Francesco Piras, Giuseppe Doneddu, Luca Saba, Carla Masala

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引用次数: 5

Abstract

The olfactory system is associated with several brain areas that might be involved in neurodegenerative processes and neurodevelopmental disorders. For this reason, investigation of the olfactory function plays an important role in the assessment of individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), a neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by an impairment in social communication and by a restricted and repetitive pattern of behaviors. The aim of this study was to examine odor detection threshold, discrimination, and identification in participants with ASD compared to typically developing (TD) controls.

Thirty Italian subjects (15 with ASD, mean age 19?±?0.5?years, and 15 TD controls, mean age 21.7?±?0.4?years) were evaluated by means of the Sniffin’ Sticks extended test through three different parameters, odor detection threshold, discrimination, and identification, and their sum the threshold, discrimination, and identification (TDI) score.

Our results indicated that the participants with ASD showed an impairment in odor detection threshold and TDI score compared to TD controls. No differences were found in odor identification and discrimination. Participants with ASD were significantly poorer in correctly identifying the following odors: leather, apple, rose, cinnamon, garlic, cloves, and anis. However, they were significantly better than TD controls in correctly identifying the odor of the following fruits: orange, banana, and lemon.

Our data provide a comprehensive evaluation of the three olfactory components in an Italian population and confirm an impaired odor detection threshold and TDI score in subjects with ASD compared to TD controls. In conclusion, these results suggest that the Sniffin’ Sticks extended test might be a valid tool in early detection and differential diagnosis of neurodevelopmental disorders.

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意大利自闭症谱系障碍受试者的嗅觉功能评估

嗅觉系统与几个可能参与神经退行性过程和神经发育障碍的大脑区域有关。因此，嗅觉功能的研究在自闭症谱系障碍(ASD)患者的评估中起着重要的作用。ASD是一种神经发育障碍，其特征是社交障碍和限制和重复的行为模式。本研究的目的是检查ASD参与者的气味检测阈值、辨别和识别，并将其与典型发育(TD)对照进行比较。30名意大利受试者(15名ASD患者，平均年龄19±0.5岁)采用嗅探棒扩展试验，通过气味检测阈值、鉴别和识别三个不同参数，以及阈值、鉴别和识别(TDI)评分的总和，对15名TD对照组(平均年龄21.7±0.4岁)进行评价。我们的研究结果表明，与TD对照组相比，ASD参与者在气味检测阈值和TDI评分方面表现出损害。在气味识别和辨别方面没有发现差异。患有ASD的参与者在正确识别以下气味方面明显较差:皮革、苹果、玫瑰、肉桂、大蒜、丁香和茴香。然而，他们在正确识别以下水果的气味方面明显优于TD对照组:橙子、香蕉和柠檬。我们的数据提供了意大利人群中三种嗅觉成分的综合评估，并证实与TD对照组相比，ASD受试者的气味检测阈值和TDI评分受损。总之，这些结果表明，嗅探棒扩展试验可能是早期发现和鉴别诊断神经发育障碍的有效工具。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

Chemosensory Perception 农林科学-神经科学

CiteScore

2.50

自引率

0.00%

发文量

审稿时长

>36 weeks

期刊介绍： Coverage in Chemosensory Perception includes animal work with implications for human phenomena and explores the following areas: Identification of chemicals producing sensory response; Identification of sensory response associated with chemicals; Human in vivo response to chemical stimuli; Human in vitro response to chemical stimuli; Neuroimaging of chemosensory function; Neurological processing of chemoreception; Chemoreception mechanisms; Psychophysics of chemoperception; Trigeminal function; Multisensory perception; Contextual effect on chemoperception; Behavioral response to chemical stimuli; Physiological factors affecting and contributing to chemoperception; Flavor and hedonics; Memory and chemoperception.