(The impact of Chronic Rhinosinusitis on olfaction ( immunohistochemical study

Abstract

Abstract Background: Chronic rhinosinusitis (CRS) is one of the leading causes of olfactory dysfunction. Olfactory impairments in CRS can be classified into two broad mechanisms of impairment: conductive losses from obstruction of the nasal passages, or sensorineural causes from damage to the olfactory neuroepithelium. Nestin is one type of intermediate filament protein, was a specific marker for OE stem cells. It was found that nestin is actually expressed in the axonal ends and inferior processes of OE sustentacular cells in the basal compartment of the epithelium. Nestin immunoreactivity, which is clearly present in the sustentacular cell layer of normosmic patients, was slightly reduced in the OE of subjects suffering from hyposmia. In contrast, in the OE of anosmics, nestin expression was found to be noticeably reduced. This indicates that expression of nestin protein is related to olfactory function and is down regulated with loss of olfactory function.