Zicam-Induced Damage to Mouse and Human Nasal Tissue
Intranasal medications are used to treat various nasal disorders. However, their effects on olfaction remain unknown. Zicam (zinc gluconate; Matrixx Initiatives, Inc), a homeopathic substance marketed to alleviate cold symptoms, has been implicated in olfactory dysfunction. Here, we investigated Zicam and several common intranasal agents for their effects on olfactory function. Zicam was the only substance that showed significant cytotoxicity in both mouse and human nasal tissue. Specifically, Zicam-treated mice had disrupted sensitivity of olfactory sensory neurons to odorant stimulation and were unable to detect novel odorants in behavioral testing. These findings were long-term as no recovery of function was observed after two months. Finally, human nasal explants treated with Zicam displayed significantly elevated extracellular lactate dehydrogenase levels compared to saline-treated controls, suggesting severe necrosis that was confirmed on histology. Our results demonstrate that Zicam use could irreversibly damage mouse and human nasal tissue and may lead to significant smell dysfunction.
Abstract
Introduction
Results
Discussion
Materials and Methods
Supporting Information
Acknowledgments
Author Contributions
References
Jae H. Lim1, Greg E. Davis1, Zhenshan Wang2, Vicky Li2, Yuping Wu2, Tessa C. Rue3, Daniel R. Storm2*
1 Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, United States of America, 2 Department of Pharmacology, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, United States of America, 3 Department of Biostatistics, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, United States of America
Abstract Top
Intranasal medications are used to treat various nasal disorders. However, their effects on olfaction remain unknown. Zicam (zinc gluconate; Matrixx Initiatives, Inc), a homeopathic substance marketed to alleviate cold symptoms, has been implicated in olfactory dysfunction. Here, we investigated Zicam and several common intranasal agents for their effects on olfactory function. Zicam was the only substance that showed significant cytotoxicity in both mouse and human nasal tissue. Specifically, Zicam-treated mice had disrupted sensitivity of olfactory sensory neurons to odorant stimulation and were unable to detect novel odorants in behavioral testing. These findings were long-term as no recovery of function was observed after two months. Finally, human nasal explants treated with Zicam displayed significantly elevated extracellular lactate dehydrogenase levels compared to saline-treated controls, suggesting severe necrosis that was confirmed on histology. Our results demonstrate that Zicam use could irreversibly damage mouse and human nasal tissue and may lead to significant smell dysfunction.
Citation: Lim JH, Davis GE, Wang Z, Li V, Wu Y, et al. (2009) Zicam-Induced Damage to Mouse and Human Nasal Tissue. PLoS ONE 4(10): e7647. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0007647
Editor: Hiroaki Matsunami, Duke Unviersity, United States of America
Received: July 25, 2009; Accepted: October 8, 2009; Published: October 30, 2009
Copyright: © 2009 Lim et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Funding: This work was supported by grants from the National Institutes of Health to: J.H.L (2T32DC000018-26) G.E.D (1KL2RR025015-02), and D.R.S(DC04156). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.
Competing interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.
* E-mail: dstorm@u.washington.edu |
