This proposal seeks funding under the Fogarty International Research Collaboration Award (FIRCA) to support the laboratory and work of a Russian colleague. The proposed research is an extension of work that is currently funded by the National Institutes of Health. The parent grant supports investigations of chemosensory function in humans who lack a sense of smell and in those who possess normal smell function in an attempt to more fully understand the interactions between the various chemosensory systems. This FIRCA proposal will expand this project to include studies of animal models of variation in human chemosensation. Specifically, three areas of investigation will be pursued, i.e., behavioral, biochemical and neuroanatomical. Behavioral work will explore the effects of exposure to chemicals on chemosensory function and sensitivity. Biochemical experiments will study changes in enzyme systems that appear to result from exposures to chemicals. Neuroanatomical work will explore regions of the brain that become activated as a result of exposure to chemicals. Together, these studies will increase our understanding of normal functioning of chemosensory systems.
