Lupus patients ‘have decreased sense of smell’
May 1st, 2009 - 3:04 pm ICT by ANIWashington, May 01 (ANI): A new study had found that patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) have a decreased sense of smell.
SLE is an autoimmune disease that sometimes involves the central nervous system in a condition known as neuropsychiatric SLE (NPSLE).
The sense of smell is a complex process of the central nervous system that involves specific areas of the brain.
Research in mice has shown that NPSLE-like symptoms and olfactory impairment might be induced by autoimmune mechanisms that target specific areas of the brain, but this has not been explored.
The new study, led by Yehuda Shoenfeld of Chaim Sheba Medical Center in Tel-Hashomer, Israel, involved 50 SLE patients and 50 age and sex-matched controls.
Researchers evaluated three levels of olfactory function: threshold (identifying a stick with an odour from among sticks that didn’t have an odour); discrimination (differentiating between two smells); and identification of a smell from among four options. The three scores were combined to form a total TDI score.
The results showed that significant olfactory deficits in the SLE patients compared with the controls. SLE patients showed a decrease in olfactory function in both the threshold and discrimination tests.
Also, the study found that patients with more active disease and past NPSLE manifestations had significantly lower TDI scores.
Previous study in mice has shown that injection of antibodies linked to NPSLE manifestations induced olfactory deficit and that these antibodies can bind and penetrate cells in limbic areas of the brain, which are associated with the sense of smell.
Also, magnetic resonance imaging has recently shown limbic system involvement in SLE patients.
“Although the exact mechanism of olfactory impairment has yet to be elucidated, the possibility of an immune-mediated mechanism is intriguing,” the authors said.
The study was published in the May issue of Arthritis & Rheumatism. (ANI)
- Anxiety helps people sniff out danger - Mar 23, 2012
- Breakthrough opens way for curing auto-immune disease - Mar 13, 2012
- Failing smell can be reversed with training - Nov 21, 2011
- 'Light-smelling' mice may explain how we distinguish between scents - Oct 18, 2010
- New study explains how brain knows what the nose smells - Feb 05, 2011
- Protein behind Alzheimer's patients loss of smell? - Sep 29, 2011
- Boffins discover control mechanism behind autoimmune diseases - May 05, 2010
- Chromosomal break leads to puberty gene discovery - Oct 01, 2010
- Hunger hormone 'ups nose's ability to sniff out food' - Apr 13, 2011
- Motherhood alters brain functions - Oct 25, 2011
- Brain sniffs out smells before the nose - Oct 09, 2011
- Babies' sense of smell physically shaped by mums' diets during pregnancy - Dec 01, 2010
- Fruit fly's response to starvation could help regulate human appetite - Apr 01, 2011
- Low vitamin D worsens lupus: Study - May 08, 2012
- How smells are detected and processed by the brain - Mar 26, 2011
Tags: antibodies, areas of the brain, autoimmune disease, brain research, central nervous system, exact mechanism, limbic system, lupus, lupus patients, magnetic resonance imaging, manifestations, mice, odour, rheumatism, sense of smell, sheba medical center, shoenfeld, sle patients, systemic lupus erythematosus, tel hashomer