Research
Although often considered as unimportant, the sense of smell plays an important role in our daily life. Smell dysfunction is a frequent complain is the general population, affecting around 20% of the population, and is associated with decreased quality of life. It also has severe impact on food behaviour, social relations and safety regarding environmental hazards. Besides that, olfactory dysfunction is acknowledged as a potential early indicator of the risk to develop a neurodegenerative disease and is also associated with a higher risk of 5-year mortality in older people. Therefore, assessment of olfactory function could constitute a potential way to early detect neurodegenerative disease or frailty in patients, with the aim of alerting healthcare providers of a potential need for special attention and specific medical care.
The OlfactIoNS group encompasses clinician-scientists having a particular interest in the sense of smell and also in other chemical senses (trigeminal chemosensory perception and taste). Using different techniques such as psychophysical tests, chemosensory event-related potentials and magnetic resonance imaging, we aim to study the mechanisms involved in smell perception both in a physiological and pathological context.
One of our main interests is the development of new analysis and stimulation methods to improve the signal-to-noise ratio of chemosensory event-related potentials and to better understand the significance of these EEG responses.
We also have a special interest in the relationship between olfactory dysfunction and the odds of developing neurodegenerative disease and poor outcome. Notably, we study whether olfactory tests could be useful biomarkers of the risk of developing Alzheimer’s diseases, in association with other standard biomarkers. We are also studying the relationship between smell performances and aging, to evaluate whether olfaction could be an indicator of biological age and frailty status, and whether severe smell dysfunction could predict morbidity and mortality in older people undergoing elective surgery.
Team members
Collaborations
- André Mouraux (IoNS, UCLouvain)
- Giulia Liberati (IoNS, UCLouvain)
- Bernard Hanseeuw (IoNS, UCLouvain)
- Anabelle Decottignies (De Duve, UCLouvain)
- Pascal Kienlen-Campard (IoNS, UCLouvain)
- Valérie Hox (IREC, UCLouvain)
- Laurence Dricot (IoNS, UCLouvain)
- Ron Kupers (IoNS, UCLouvain)
- Thomas Hummel (TU Dresden Germany)
Ongoing projects
- Psychophysical and electrophysiological assessment of olfaction to study the physiology and pathophysiology of olfaction and its interaction with cognitive function and aging
- Correlation of olfactory impairment with perioperative morbidity and mortality and study of the underlying mechanisms through its link with frailty and cognition.
- Nasal brushing for the diagnosis and understanding of telomeropathies
Key publications
- Van Regemorter V, Dollase J, Coulie R, Stouffs A, Dieu A, de Saint-Hubert M, Mouraux A, Huart C. Olfactory dysfunction predicts frailty and poor postoperative outcome in older patients scheduled for elective non-cardiac surgery. J Nutr Health Aging 2022; 26(11):981-986
- Van Regemorter V, Hummel T, Rosenzweig F, Mouraux A, Rombaux P, Huart C. Mechanisms linking olfactory impairment and risk of mortality. Front Neurosci 2020; 14:140
- Huart C, Rombaux P, Hummel T. Neural plasticity in developing and adult olfactory pathways – focus on the human olfactory bulb. J Bioenerg Biomembre 2019;51(1):77-87
- Huart C, Rombaux P, Gérard T, Hanseeuw B, Lhommel R, Quenon L, Ivanoiu A, Mouraux A. Unirhinal olfactory testing for the diagnostic workup of mild cognitive impairment. J Alzheimers Dis 2015;47(1):253-70
- Huart C, Legrain V, Hummel T, Rombaux P, Mouraux A. Time-frequency analysis of chemosensory event-related potentials to characterize the cortical representation of odors in humans. Plos One 2012;7(3):e33221. Doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0033221