Library · Disease
Anosmia
Make it clearer
Anosmia is not being able to smell anything. And it is a symptom, not a disease with a name of its own: something is causing it.
For smell to occur, odor molecules travel up the nose to cells called olfactory receptor neurons. Those neurons extend from the olfactory bulb, the structure where the sense of smell begins, and the bulb rests on the cribriform plate, a thin bone perforated like a colander, through which the nerves pass.
That pathway can be interrupted in two ways. One is that something blocks the way and the odor never reaches the olfactory nerves: the smell stays outside because a door is closed. The other is that the olfactory axons, the wires of those neurons, break right where they cross the cribriform plate: the smell does arrive, but the wire was cut.
In brief
Anosmia is the inability to perceive odors, and it is a symptom rather than a diagnosis.
Odorant molecules travel up the nasal passages to the olfactory receptor neurons, which extend from the olfactory bulb resting on the cribriform plate.
It results from any mechanical blockage that keeps odors from reaching the olfactory nerves, or from trauma to their axons at the cribriform plate.
The smell can stay outside because a door is closed, or get lost because the wire was cut.
Sources (1)
- National Center for Biotechnology Information, StatPearls PublishingAnosmia, StatPearlsPublished
This page explains the topic in general terms; it does not tell anyone what treatment to follow.
Updated