A wife and her husband enter the doctor's examining room and sit quietly waiting for the doctor to arrive. Upon arrival, the physician asks nicely: "What can I help you with today?" To that the wife responds "Doctor, my husband has Parkinson's Disease; I can smell it on him" and stops talking abruptly after that. How is that for a self-diagnosis or diagnosis by Spouse?
The story did not precisely follow that flow, but researchers were able to confirm a wife's suspicion of being able to smell the presence of Parkinson's disease on her husband. Having that ability landed her in the study labeled as "super smeller." Researchers describe her ability in the study, published in ACS Central Science, as "Joy has an extremely sensitive sense of smell, and this enables her to detect and discriminate odors not normally detected by those of average olfactory ability." When the sebaceous glands in the upper back and forehead overproduce sebum (a waxy, lipid-rich) biofluid, a process known as seborrhea, the overproduction is associated with the non-motor symptom of Parkinson's Disorder.
Who would have known had Joy not been born and honed in on a very particular smell on emanating on her husband? Joy started realizing that the 'musky' odor was not unique to just her husband while attending Parkinson's Disease patient support groups. That is when she made the connection between the smell and Parkinson's Disease.
The study was conducted with 64 participants: 42 Parkinson's Disease Patients and 21 Control Patients. The patients were chosen from across 23 different geographical areas across the UK. The analysis went as follows: Patients were swabbed across their backs and foreheads to collect the sebum. The sample (sebum in gauze) was introduced into a Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometer (GC-MS). The GC-MS in our chemistry department is shown below:
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| Photo: Kayla Kaiser - FLCKR |
The Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometer has two main components to the instrument. First is an oven in which a long column around 100 meters in length as shown below:
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| Photo: Kayla Kaiser - Flickr |
In the images above, the column which is around 100 meters in length sits inside of an oven. A sample (of a chemical mixture or single chemical) is injected into the column shown in the image above. As the substances travel down the column, the mixture starts to separate into individual compounds based on their weights. The heavier chemicals tend to fall behind, whereas the lighter chemicals start to progress ahead. Time spent inside of the column allows separation of a chemical mixture based on properties such as mass.
As the mixture heads toward the end of the column, the next (second component) to the GC-MS is encountered, which is the Mass Analyzer. The Mass Analyzer portion is to the left of the oven in the first image and is shown below:
The second component of the GC-MS instrument is the Mass Analyzer as shown above. The GC-MS instrument has a Mass Analyzer which detects different masses of chemicals by breaking them down into ion fragments. The instrument software can then determine the molecular weight of a given chemical structure by analyzing the pieces which flow off of the separating column. A typical chromatogram of a mixture of chemicals is shown below:
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| An example chromatogram generated by a CSUN student for the blog post. Photo: Kayla Kaiser - Flickr |
The study revealed the molecules present in Parkinson's Disease patients from the use of a similar GC-MS instrument. From this instrument, the researchers were able to detect, identify, and quantify the following chemicals associated with Parkinson's Disease: eicosane, hippuric acid, and octodecanal were present in significant concentrations.
Whereas, other chemicals, such as perillic aldehyde were present in smaller amounts in patients with Parkinson's Disease. Joy was able to detect the differences in concentrations which led her to believe that these differences in odor were associated with the onset of Parkinson's Disease.
The study highlights the use of biomarkers (chemicals) as a non-invasive detection method of diseases such as Parkinson's Disease. Joy has challenged scientific researchers to expand their arsenal of detection methods with her unique ability to act as a "Super Smeller." Future plans include the use of canines as additional detectors of disease. The present research has opened up new mechanisms by which Parkinson's Disease afflicts the human body.
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