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77th Annual Meeting of the German Society of Oto-Rhino-Laryngology, Head and Neck Surgery

German Society of Oto-Rhino-Laryngology, Head and Neck Surgery

24.05. - 28.05.2006, Mannheim

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Measurements of negative mucosa potential (NMP) at different positions of the human nasal mucosa

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  • corresponding author Mandy Scheibe - Department of Otorhinolaryngology, University of Dresden Medical School, Dresden, Deutschland
  • Thomas Zahnert - Department of Otorhinolaryngology, University of Dresden Medical School, Dresden, Deutschland
  • Thomas Hummel - Department of Otorhinolaryngology, University of Dresden Medical School, Dresden, Deutschland

German Society of Otorhinolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery. 77th Annual Meeting of the German Society of Otorhinolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery. Mannheim, 24.-28.05.2006. Düsseldorf, Köln: German Medical Science; 2006. Doc06hno059

The electronic version of this article is the complete one and can be found online at: http://www.egms.de/en/meetings/hno2006/06hno059.shtml

Published: September 7, 2006

© 2006 Scheibe et al.
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/deed.en). You are free: to Share – to copy, distribute and transmit the work, provided the original author and source are credited.

Outline

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Background: Differences in the distribution of human intranasal trigeminal receptors have been suggested. The aim of this study was to investigate these potential topographical differences using an electrophysiologcial measure of trigeminal induced activation, the Negative Mucosa Potential (NMP).

Material and Methods: A total of 29 young, healthy volunteers participated (16 men, 13 women; age 19-42 years). The trigeminal stimulant CO2 (60% v/v; stimulus duration 500 ms; interstimulus interval 30 s) was used for stimulation. Stimuli were presented using a computer controlled olfactometer (OM6b, Burghart Instruments, Wedel). Recording of the NMP was performed with a tubular electrodes. Recording sites were the anterior septum, the lower turbinate, and the anterior olfactory cleft.

Results: Topographical differences of responses to trigeminal stimualtion were present. Maximum amplitudes of the NMP were found at the anterior septum, lowest amplitudes were recorded at the olfactory cleft (p<0.05). Intranasal measurements of CO2 concentration suggested that these differences were not due to major differences in the intransal distribution of CO2.

Conclusions: The present data suggest that there are topographical differences in the sensitivity of trigeminal afferents with the highest sensitivity in the anterior part of the nasal cavity. This finding is compatible with the idea that the trigeminal system acts as a sentinel of the human airways.

Key words: Negative Mucosa Potential, trigeminal system, localization