The Change of Kinesthetic and Olfactory Function in Patients with Neurodegenerative Disease

Recent research has reported that perceptual deficits could be the early sign of neuro-degenerative diseases, such as Parkinson’s disease, focal dystonia and Alzheimer’s disease. Among the perception, kinesthesia and olfactory function receive growing attention for the possibility as the early diagnostic markers. Patients with Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimer’s disease and certain type of dystonia have been reported to have olfactory dysfunction at early stage of disease. Patients with Parkinson’s disease and focal dystonia have been reported to have impaired kinesthesia. Although the impairment of olfaction and kinesthesia has been investigated, the connection between these two perceptual deficits and the underlying mechanism remain unclear. The further understanding of the olfactory function and kinesthesia in neuro-degenerate diseases would be crucial for the early diagnosis of diseases and helpful to elucidate the mechanism of pathological change. Therefore, we could provide early treatment and intervention. In this study, we will measure kinesthesia sensitivity and olfactory function in patients with Parkinson’s disease, focal dystonia and Alzheimer’s disease. This psychophysical study will systematically investigate kinesthesia and olfactory function in patients with neurodegenerative diseases, including Parkinson’s disease, focal dystonia and Alzheimer’s disease. Specifically, the experiment will determine the just noticeable difference threshold (JNDT) for passive forearm motion as kinesthestic sensitivity and JNDT for smell as olfactory sensitivity. We plan to recruit 30 healthy young adults with age 20~35, 30 elder adults with age 55~70, 30 mild to moderate Parkinson’s disease patients, 30 mild to moderate focal dystonia patients and 30 mild Alzheimer’s disease patients. We will employ a custom-built passive motion apparatus and use established psychophysical methods to determine the JNDT of passive forearm motion. For olfactory function, we will use University of Pennsylvania smell threshold test to measure JNDT for olfaction. This study will address the following questions: a) What is the just noticeable difference threshold of passive limb motion in healthy controls and patients with neurodegenerative disease? b) What is the just noticeable difference threshold of olfactory function in healthy controls and patients with neurodegenerative disease? c) What is the impact of aging on kinesthetic and olfactory sensitivity? d) What is the relationship between kinesthetic and olfactory function in patients with neurodegenerative diseases? e) Is there any racial difference in findings?

Project ID:PC10401-0165
External Project ID:NSC102-2314-B182-009-MY3