IS OLFACTION AFFECTED IN AT-RISK DESCENDANTS OF HUNTINGTON’S DISEASE PATIENTS?

OTERO-LOSADA, M.

Ciudad Autonoma de Buenos Aires

Congreso; 3er. Congreso Latinoamericano de Neuropsiquiatría. 7º Congreso Argentino de Neuropsiquiatría y Neurociencia Cognitiva.VIII Jornadas de la Enfermedad de Alzheimer y otros Trastornos Cognitivos.; 2005

Asociacion Neuropsiquiatrica Argentina.

ABSTRACT Olfactory deficits are present in many neurodegenerative diseases. It is not known, however, whether the olfactory deterioration is caused by a common neural deficit, or whether it is unique to each disease. We report here the absence of major olfactory impairment in Huntington´s disease offsprings as determined by UPSIT scores .  Neuroimaging studies have shown that the caudate nucleus is involved in olfaction, present results relate to such observations. The results are discussed in relation to other neurodegenerative diseases. Present results would imply that inheritance would not be a risk factor Hungtington’s disease, at least as related to olfactory deficits. Graves AB, Bowen JD, Rajaram L, McCormick WC, McCurry SM, Schellenberg GD, Larson EB: Impaired olfaction as a marker for cognitive decline: interaction with apolipoprotein E e4 status. Neurology 1999; 53:1480-1487 Moberg PJ, Doty RL: Olfactory function in Huntington’s disease patients and at-risk offspring. Int J Neurosci 1997; 89:133-139 Doty RL, Reyes PF, Gregor T: Presence of both odor identification and detection deficits in Alzheimer’s disease. Brain Res Bull 1987; 18:597-600 Doty RL, Deems DA, Stellar S: Olfactory dysfunction in parkinsonism: a general deficit unrelated to neurologic signs, disease stage, or disease duration. Neurology 1988; 38:1237-1244 Doty RL, Perl DP, Steele JC, Chen KM, Pierce JD Jr, Reyes P, Kurland LT: The odor identification deficit of the parkinsonism-dementia complex of Guam: equivalence to that of Alzheimer’s and idiopathic Parkinson’s disease. Neurology 1991; 41(suppl 2):77-80 Killiany RJ, Gomez-Isla T, Moss M, Kikinis R, Sandor T, Jolesz F, Tanzi R, Jones K, Hyman BT, Albert MS: Use of structural magnetic resonance imaging to predict who will get Alzheimer’s disease. Ann Neurol 2000; 47:430-439