The Connecticut Chemosensory Clinical Research Center (CCCRC) conducts basic and clinical research on chemosensory systems. The goals of the CCCRC are to operate a Taste and Smell Clinic and collect data on chemosensory disorders, to test clinical hypotheses regarding the effects and treatment of chemosensory disorders, and to develop basic knowledge about chemosensory systems. It is a fundamental tenet of the CCCRC that both clinical and basic science develop more efficiently if they interact. At the heart of the CCCRC is the Taste and Smell Clinic, which is comprised of a multidisciplinary team concerned with developing ways to evaluate and treat people with chemosensory disorders. Among its activities are research on treatment of olfactory loss due to nasal/sinus disease and burning mouth syndrome, and systematic follow-up of patients with no current treatment options. The CCCRC Data Base, which currently contains comprehensive data on 745 Taste and Smell Clinic patients, is being maintained, expanded, and utilized for diagnosis, prognosis, and research. CCCRC clinical research projects, which involve basic scientists addressing clinical issues, have evolved directly from patient contact. One project examines localized taste losses and oral phantoms of dysgeusia and burning mouth in people, another psychosocial adjustments of people with untreatable smell disorders, and a third oral chemosensory perceptions and integrity of the taste epithelium in people with nerve lesions. CCCRC basic research projects address degeneration and regeneration of the hamster peripheral taste system after nerve injury, anatomical and physiological organization of the hamster gustatory central nervous system at brainstem and forebrain levels, functional organization of projections of olfactory receptor neurons to the olfactory bulb in rats, and the development of taste preferences in human infants. The activities of the Taste and Smell Clinic and CCCRC clinical and basic research are benefiting people who suffer from taste and smell disorders.
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