The perception of odor blends and mixtures: Modulation, Inhibition and Enhancement of Olfactory Receptors alters perception of complex blends

Project Summary/AbstractThis application seeks to take advantage of a unique opportunity to obtain significant amounts of human nasal tissue form recent CV-19 positive post mortems. Working with the Columbia University Medical Center Pathology Department and an ENY surgeon tissue is being recovered from post mortem procedures performed within 24 hours of death. We currently have 20 tissue samples of OE (attached to cribiform plate) and OB, in fixative and refrigerated or flash frozen. At the outset of the pandemic spread of the virus there were initially anecdotal, but now well quantified, reports of sudden anosmia and dysgeusia (likely a result of the anosmia) appearing 2-4 days before onset of the documented respiratory and fever symptoms of CV19. Although not all cases of CV19 experience the anosmia, all anosmias eventually became positive for CV19. The sense of smell is reportedly recovered in all surviving patients but requires 4-6 weeks post infection, long after other viral symptoms have resolved. The appearance of anosmia in the absence of respiratory symptoms - both before and after the disease time course, is of special interest as it differs significantly from hyposmias experienced during other respiratory illnesses. We will utilize human post mortem tissue to investigate, with advanced microscopy techniques and tissue preparation, several possible causes for this mysterious anosmia - including cell loss, tissue degeneration, cilia loss, vascular abnormalities, immune response comorbidities, and direct viral infection.