Viral Gene Therapy Gives Non-Smelling Mice the Ability to Smell
Olfactory Neurons A microscopic view of cells that detect odors (olfactory sensory neurons) with yellow and green stains showing cilia. University of Michigan Health System Science can make blind mice see again and deaf mice hear - now scent-deprived mice can sniff their surroundings and smell for the first time, after a new gene therapy. It may be a while before this treatment percolates up to humans, but it's a sign that gene therapy could restore smell in this rare but disorder. The lifelong inability to smell, called congenital anosmia, is different from the smell-destruction that can stem from trauma to the brain, olfactory nerve or sinus cavity. People with congenital anosmia have never been able to smell. In this study, researchers at the University of Michigan worked with mice that lacked cilia, those tiny hairs found in the nose and elsewhere in the body. The olfactory nerve uses cilia to...