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The distribution of nasal airflow sensitivity in normal subjects

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 June 2007

R. W. Clarke
Affiliation:
Department of Otolaryngology, University of Liverpool, Liverpool.
A. S. Jones*
Affiliation:
Department of Otolaryngology, University of Liverpool, Liverpool.
*
Professor A. S. Jones, Department of Otolaryngology, University of Liverpool, Royal Liverpool University Hospital, PO Box 147, Liverpool L69 3BX.

Abstract

Nasal airflow modifies the pattern of ventilation presumably due in part to nervous signals arising in the nose and transmitted along the trigeminal nerve to the respiratory centre. Nasal receptor tissue must also be important in determining the sensation of airflow at a conscious level but little attention has been paid to the distribution and function of these receptors.

An experimental model to deliver a pulse of air at different velocities to various nasal test sites is described. In this way nasal sensitivity to an air jet can be mapped out. Sensitivity of the nose to an air jet is greatest at the entrance to the nose – the region of the nasal vestibule.

Type
Main Articles
Copyright
Copyright © JLO (1984) Limited 1994

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