# HUMAN OLFACTORY TISSUE--AGING ALZHEIMER'S DISEASE

> **NIH NIH R01** · TUFTS UNIVERSITY BOSTON · 1991 · $222,944

## Abstract

DESCRIPTION (Investigator's Abstract):  The long term objectives of this
study are to evaluate the nature and specificity of the pathology that the
investigators have discovered in the olfactory tissue of patients with
Alzheimer's Disease (AD) and to understand the pathogenesis and
relationship of the neuritic abnormalities to changes that occur in AD
brain or in aging.  This is the first demonstration of a peripheral site
which shows pathological neuronal changes of AD.  The investigators have
demonstrated a highly significant association of these olfactory changes
with AD, and these data strongly suggest that olfactory epithelial cells
participate in the general abnormalities of AD.  Olfactory receptor cells
are neurons that lie in the nasal cavity and are accessible for study.
They provide a "window" to see what is happening in the brain and give us
the opportunity to study the progression of disruptive processes from early
to advanced stages, not only in AD, but also in other neurodegenerative
diseases or in normal aging.  A number of questions remain.  The
investigators have shown that olfactory tissue taken at autopsy from AD
patients shows ectopic neurites that invade the epithelium and are
immunoreactive for phosphorylated cytoskeletal proteins not normally found
in olfactory epithelium.  The investigators propose to extend the
investigators study of autopsied patients to a larger group including AD as
well as other neurodegenerative disease and aged non-demented patients to
establish the specificity and prevalence of this phenomenon and to continue
the biopsy studies of olfactory tissue that the investigators have begun on
patients in early stages of AD.  These biopsy studies will indicate if the
pathological changes begin early and could provide the basis for
examination of formative stages of the disease or development of diagnostic
tests.  Neither the distribution of the sensory areas in the nasal
epithelium nor the extent of the pathology has been documented.  These
features will be mapped across the nasal epithelium on both sides of the
nose with immunohistochemical techniques using newly-developed whole mount
procedures.  This will provide the information for accurate design of
autopsy and biopsy studies and enable us to quantitate the amount of
pathology.  Furthermore, the identity and origin of the misdirected
neurites in the epithelium is unknown.  Characterization and identification
of the neurites by use of additional antibodies will provide information
for further understanding the pathologic phenomenology and its relationship
to AD, and to identity molecular features that may discriminate neurites of
AD from other pathologies.  It may also give us insight into the basis for
the abnormal neuritic outgrowth.  Proteins of the cytoskeleton and those
known to accumulate in plaques and neurofibrillary tangles will be studied,
as will growth factors or other molecules suspected to participate in
neurite extension.  Olfactory recept...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 3120969
- **Project number:** 1R01AG009200-01A1
- **Recipient organization:** TUFTS UNIVERSITY BOSTON
- **SAM.gov UEI:** C1F5LNUF7W86
- **Principal Investigator:** Barbara Talamo
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 1991
- **Award amount:** $222,944
- **Award type:** 1
- **Project period:** 1991-08-01 → 1994-07-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/3120969

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 3120969, HUMAN OLFACTORY TISSUE--AGING ALZHEIMER'S DISEASE (1R01AG009200-01A1). Retrieved via MORVS 2026-10-25 from https://api.morvs.ai/grant/nih/3120969. Licensed CC0.

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