Fully understanding the mechanisms driving the various symptoms and sequelae of SARS-CoV-2 infection will allow for the eventual development of therapeutics to prevent or treat such life-altering symptoms. In this study, the authors developed a behavioral test of anosmia in SARS-CoV-2-infected hamsters. They find a moderately strong correlation between the level of anosmia and the score of histological damage within the olfactory epithelium. They also find a moderately strong correlation between the level of anosmia and the thickness of the olfactory epithelium, previously demonstrated to be severely damaged upon infection. Thus, this food-searching behavioral test can act as a simple and effective screening method in a hamster model for various therapeutics for SARS-CoV-2-related anosmia.
Reyna, R.A., Kishimoto-Urata, M., Urata, S. et al. Recovery of anosmia in hamsters infected with SARS-CoV-2 is correlated with repair of the olfactory epithelium. Sci Rep 12, 628 (2022).
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