Abstracts - Association for Chemoreception Sciences

show increased high-fat food avidity and body mass. Consistent
with reports linking RO to oral sensation, those with both OM
and tonsillectomy show reduced whole-mouth taste and RO,
revealing compensatory limits following extensive loss. While
this model remains exploratory – it requires verification in a
single sample, and shifts in obesity risk with whole-mouth gain
vs. loss remain to be seen – relative intensity changes among
flavor components appear sufficiently robust to influence
high-fat intake. Overall, oral disinhibition sustains whole-mouth
taste and flavor perception by moderating the impact of limited
spatial loss, but the strength of this effect may shape long-term
food choice and dietary health. Acknowledgements: NIDCD
(DC 00283)
#P14 POSTER SESSION I:
MULTIMODAL RECEPTION; CHEMOSENSATION
AND DISEASE; OLFACTION PERIPHERY
Atherosclerosis and Decline in Odor Identification
Carla R. Schubert 1 , Karen J. Cruickshanks 1,2 , Mary E. Fischer 1 ,
Guan-Hua Huang 3 , Barbara E. Klein 1 , Ronald Klein 1 ,
James S. Pankow 4 , Nathan Pankratz 5 , Alex Pinto 1
1
University of Wisconsin/Department of Ophthalmology & Visual
Sciences Madison, WI, USA, 2 University of Wisconsin/Department
of Population Health Sciences Madison, WI, USA, 3 National Chiao
Tung University/Institute of Statistics Hsinchu, Taiwan, 4 University
of Minnesota/Division of Epidemiology and Community Health
Minneapolis, MN, USA, 5 University of Minnesota/Laboratory
Medicine and Pathology Minneapolis, MN, USA
#P13 POSTER SESSION I:
MULTIMODAL RECEPTION; CHEMOSENSATION
AND DISEASE; OLFACTION PERIPHERY
Head Trauma, Taste Damage and Weight Gain
Linda M. Bartoshuk 1 , Susan Marino 2 , Derek J. Snyder 1 ,
Jennifer J. Stamps 1
1
University of Florida Gainesville, FL, USA, 2 University of Minnesota
Minneapolis, MN, USA
Severe brain injuries associated with weight gain have been
reported in children (Jourdan et al. 2012; Norwood et al. 2010)
and adults (Henson et al. 1993); one source of the weight gain
is believed to be metabolic (e.g., hypothalamic dysfunction).
Head trauma has long been known to affect taste (Sumner 1967;
Costanzo and Zasler 1991; Solomon et al. 1991). Our recent
data suggest that taste damage from otitis media or tonsillectomy
is associated with enhanced palatability of energy dense foods
and weight gain (see Snyder & Bartoshuk poster). We presented
a model suggesting that damage to taste nerves VII or IX could
intensify non-taste oral sensations centrally possibly altering
palatability (Bartoshuk et al. 2012). Of special interest, the
consequences of damage to either VII or IX depended on the
status of the other nerve. Central intensifications only occurred
when the damage was restricted to one nerve. The present
study extends these conclusions to taste damage resulting from
head trauma. Subjects were healthy academics who reported
they had experienced a concussion, loss of consciousness
or loss of memory from a head injury. In a questionnaire
study (N=3807), weight was significantly elevated and so was
preference for high fat foods controlling for age and sex. Spatial
taste testing (N=287) revealed significant loss of taste at VII
with intensifications in flavor and oral touch (e.g., fat) in those
subjects with intact IX. A third population is of special interest:
athletes in contact sports like boxing or football who tend to gain
weight in retirement. We suggest that food preferences should be
examined in head trauma to determine how much weight gain
can be attributed to taste damage with resulting sensory and
palatability alterations. Acknowledgements: DC283, DC8613
and DC8620
Olfactory impairment is common in older adults although
awareness of impairment is low, suggesting that olfactory
function may decline slowly over time. We evaluated factors
associated with a 5-year decline in odor identification in the
Beaver Dam Offspring Study, a longitudinal cohort study of
adults aged 21-84 years at baseline (BOSS1; 2005-2008). The
8-odorant San Diego Odor Identification Test (SDOIT) was
administered at the baseline and 5-year follow-up (BOSS2;
2010-2013) examinations. Decline in odor identification was
defined as a decrease in SDOIT score ≥2 from BOSS1 to
BOSS2; no change was defined as a difference between BOSS1
and BOSS2 scores of ≤1. In preliminary analyses of the first
2195 participants with SDOIT data at BOSS1 and BOSS2,
3.1% had a decline in SDOIT score. Those with a decline in
odor identification were more likely to be older (Odds Ratio
(OR)=1.58, 95% Confidence Interval(CI)=1.40, 1.79, per 5
years of age) than those with no change in score. In age- and
sex-adjusted models, baseline current smoking (OR=2.18,
95%CI=1.08, 4.37, vs never), carotid artery intima media
thickness(IMT)(OR=1.17, 95%CI=1.01, 1.36, per 0.1mm),
number of carotid artery sites (range 0-6) with plaque (OR=1.39,
95% CI=1.13, 1.70) and report of a head injury between BOSS1
and BOSS2 (OR=3.07, 95%CI=1.23, 7.64) were associated with
an increased risk for decline in SDOIT score. In a multivariable
model adjusting for age, sex and head injury, the number of
carotid artery sites with plaque was an independent predictor of
decline in SDOIT score (OR=1.37, 95%CI=1.11, 1.68). Smoking
and IMT were not significant in models including plaque. These
preliminary findings suggest atherosclerosis may be a contributor
to, or marker of, the decline in olfactory function seen with
aging. Acknowledgements: The project described was supported
by R01AG021917 from the National Institute on Aging,
National Eye Institute, and National Institute on Deafness and
Other Communication Disorders. The content is solely the
responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily reflect the
official views of the National Institute on Aging or the National
Institutes of Health.
POSTER PRESENTATIONS
Abstracts are printed as submitted by the author(s).
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