OLFACTORY DEFICITS IN DOWN SUBJECTS - A LINK WITH ALZHEIMER-DISEASE

Two groups of subjects, 14 young (ages 20 to 31 years) and 14 adults ( ages 32 to 54 years), both groups with Down Syndrome, were examined on a matching and naming olfactory task. On the former, subjects were re quired to recognize among four a previously sniffed odour, while on th e latter they had to label an odour by choosing among four alternative s provided by the examiner. Analysis indicated that the adults with Do wn Syndrome scored worse than the young group on both tasks and that t he impairment of the two groups was more pronounced on the matching ta sk. On considering the similarity between the neurodegenerative brain pathology exhibited by Alzheimer patients and Down subjects and a rece nt observation that the former show pathological changes also in the o lfactory epithelium (neuritic plaques and neurofibrillary tangles), th ese two olfactory tasks could represent a useful noninvasive diagnosti c method.