Baraniuk, James N, Petrie, Kristina Naranch, Le, Uyenphuong et al. · American journal of respiratory and critical care medicine · 2005 · DOI
Researchers tested how the nasal passages of people with ME/CFS, sinusitis, allergies, and healthy controls responded to salt water spray. They found that people with ME/CFS experienced unusual nerve sensitivity (feeling more pain) but their mucus-producing glands didn't respond normally to the stimulus. This suggests that ME/CFS involves a different pattern of how nerves and mucus glands work in the nose compared to other nasal conditions.
This study provides mechanistic evidence that ME/CFS involves abnormal neural-mucosal interactions distinct from allergic or infectious rhinitis. Understanding these neuropathologic differences in ME/CFS could inform development of targeted treatments and validate that ME/CFS involves real, measurable biological dysfunction in nerve and gland responses.
This study does not establish causation or whether nasal neuropathology is primary to ME/CFS or secondary to other disease mechanisms. It does not demonstrate that treating nasal dysfunction will improve ME/CFS symptoms, nor does it clarify whether these findings generalize beyond the subset of ME/CFS patients with nonallergic rhinitis.
About the PEM badge: “PEM required” means post-exertional malaise was an explicit required diagnostic criterion for participant inclusion in this study — not that PEM was studied, observed, or discussed. Studies using criteria that do not require PEM (e.g. Fukuda, Oxford) are tagged “PEM not required”. How the atlas works →
The first block is for the primary paper and is the citation you should use in research work. The atlas-snapshot line only applies if you are specifically referring to this atlas’s reading of the paper on the date shown.
Primary citation
Baraniuk, James N, Petrie, Kristina Naranch, Le, Uyenphuong, Tai, Chih-Feng, Park, Yong-Jin, Yuta, Atsushi, et al. (2005). Neuropathology in rhinosinusitis.. American journal of respiratory and critical care medicine. https://doi.org/10.1164/rccm.200403-357OC
BibTeX
@article{mecfsatlas-baraniuk-2005-neuropathology-rhinosinusitis,
author = {Baraniuk, James N and Petrie, Kristina Naranch and Le, Uyenphuong and Tai, Chih-Feng and Park, Yong-Jin and Yuta, Atsushi and Ali, Mushtaq and Vandenbussche, Christopher J and Nelson, Benjamin},
title = {Neuropathology in rhinosinusitis.},
journal = {American journal of respiratory and critical care medicine},
year = {2005},
doi = {10.1164/rccm.200403-357OC},
note = {PubMed: 15477496},
url = {https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/baraniuk-2005-neuropathology-rhinosinusitis},
}Atlas snapshot reference
ME/CFS Atlas. Generator v1 / Scanner v1.4 / policy v0.1. Accessed 2026-05-30. https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/baraniuk-2005-neuropathology-rhinosinusitis
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