Research Progress on the Relationship between Olfaction and Alzheimer’s Disease
DU Miaomiao, LIU Zhenkun, CHEN Yanmei*
AD (Alzheimer’s disease) is a complex neurodegenerative disease, which seriously affects cognition and memory. The pathological characteristics of AD are extracellular amyloid plaque deposition and intracellular neurofibrillary tangles. Olfactory impairment occurs earlier than cognitive impairment in AD. The primary sensory neurons of the olfactory system are in direct contact with the external environment, which may transfer harmful substances to the brain. Rodents show olfactory dysfunction, learning and memory impairment, elevated tau protein phosphorylation level and Aβ accumulation in the brain after mental expose, which are similar to AD characteristics. Olfactory dysfunction is closely related to the degree of AD pathology. Olfactory bulb atrophy, neuron loss and other pathological changes occur in olfactory-related brain areas before the occurrence of core symptoms of AD, and the degree of pathological changes in olfactory-related brain areas is positively related to the pathological degree of AD. Further understanding of the relationship between olfactory impairment and AD pathogenesis is of great significance for the study of the pathogenesis of AD and the early diagnosis of AD.
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