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Richard L. Doty, Ph.D.
Director, Smell & Taste Center,
Professor, Dept of Otorhinolaryngology
School of Medicine
5 Ravdin Building/4283
(215) 662-6580 FAX: (215) 349-5266
email: doty@mail.med.upenn.edu
Click here for selected publications since Dr. Doty's arrival at Penn
RESEARCH INTERESTS
Aging; olfaction; taste; behavioral pharmacology; neurodegenerative diseases & schizophrenia; chemosensory psychophysics; psychopharmacology; multiple sclerosis; functional magnetic resonance imaging.RESEARCH TECHNIQUES
Psychophysical procedures; olfactometry -- both human and animal; ablation; endocrine manipulation; lesioning; neuropharmacology; anterior rhinomanometry; acoustic rhinometry; event-related electrophysiological potentials; fMRIRESEARCH SUMMARY
My research is focused on better understanding the chemical senses (olfaction and taste) from both basic and clinical perspectives. Clinically, I am very much interested in the changes which occur in olfactory function in a number of disease states. We have demonstrated, for example, that individuals with Parkinson's disease and with Alzheimer's disease often have major loss of smell function.
Another research area in which I am actively engaged is that of neuropharmacological manipulation of olfactory perception. We have shown, for example, that low doses of d-amphetamine enhance the rat's ability to detect odorants, whereas moderate doses depress such ability. This research uses sophisticated computer-controlled olfactometers and operant conditioning signal detection tasks to measure the sensitivity of the animals. We have found that 6-OHDA elimination of olfactory bulb norepinephrine has no effect on odor detection performance, however, suggesting that the d-amphetamine phenomenon may not be mediated through locus coeruleus projections to the olfactory bulb. We are currently evaluating the influences of D-1 and D-2 receptor agonists and antagonists to better understand the mechanisms producing this and related phenomena.
A major research focus has been to develop clinically useful smell and taste tests. The University of Pennsylvania Smell Identification Test - a product of this program - is now the international standard for human olfactory measurement and is used in thousands of clinics and laboratories throughout the world. Associated with this program is the exploration of the influences of procedural variables upon quantitative measures of olfactory function.
Other research areas of interest include: (a) correlation of plaque numbers in circumscribed brain regions in multiple sclerosis with quantitative measures of audition, balance, taste, smell & touch; (b) influences of estrogen on preventing or mitigating age-related sensory changes; (c) influences of neurotoxic agents on smell and taste function; (d) age-related influences on sensory function; (e) disease-related histological changes in the olfactory pathways.
KEY WORDS:
Olfaction; taste; neurological disorders; psychopharmacology
