Abstracts - Association for Chemoreception Sciences

P O S T E R S
#P359 POSTER SESSION VII:
OLFACTORY PSYCHOPHYSICS &
CLINICAL STUDIES; CENTRAL OLFACTION
Altered processing of olfactory stimuli in women with a
history of childhood maltreatment: A functional MRI study
Ilona Croy 1,2 , Julia Schellong 1 , Johannes Gerber 3 , Peter Joraschky 1 ,
Emilia Iannilli 2 , Thomas Hummel 2
1
University of Dresden Medical School Department of
Psychosomatic Therapy Dresden, Germany, 2 University of
Dresden Medical School Department of Otorhinolaryngology
Dresden, Germany, 3 University of Dresden Medical School
Department of Neuroradiology Dresden, Germany
Background: Aim of this study was to investigate how women
with a history of childhood maltreatment (CM) process nonthreatening
and non-trauma related olfactory stimuli. This
approach was motivated by the overlap of brain areas often
proposed to be affected in CM patients and the projection areas
of the olfactory system. In particular, this includes amygdala,
orbitofrontal cortex, insula, and hippocampus. Methods: Twelve
women with CM and 10 controls participated in the study. All of
them were, or had been, patients in a psychosomatic clinic.
Participants underwent a fMRI investigation during olfactory
stimulation with a relatively neutral (coffee) and a pleasant (peach)
odor. Principal Findings: Both groups showed normal activation
in the olfactory projection areas. However, in the CM-group we
found enhanced activation in multiple, mainly neocortical, areas,
largely involved in associative networks. These areas included the
precentral frontal lobe, inferior and middle frontal structures,
posterior parietal lobe, occipital lobe, and the posterior cingulate
cortex. Conclusions: The results indicate that in this group of
patients, CM was associated with an altered processing of
olfactory stimuli. This complements other studies on CM
insofar, that we found the observed pattern of enhanced
activation in associative and emotional regions even following
non-traumatic cues.
#P360 POSTER SESSION VII:
OLFACTORY PSYCHOPHYSICS &
CLINICAL STUDIES; CENTRAL OLFACTION
Brain mechanisms controlling the soft palate
Roni Kahana, Lee Sela, Noam Sobel
Weizmann Institute of Science Rehovot, Israel
Locked-in syndrome (LIS) is characterized by intact cognition
with complete paralysis. LIS is the final stage of several
neurodegenerative diseases, and can also follow trauma. We
hypothesized that because control of the soft palate is both cranial
and distributed, it may be highly spared and conserved in LIS.
The position of the soft palate directs respiratory airflow through
either the mouth or nose. This allowed us to develop a sniffdependent
device that enabled tasks ranging from text writing to
wheelchair driving (see presentations by Sela and Plotkin). Here
we set out to use fMRI (3T Siemens, TR=2s, TE=30ms, 36 slices,
4mm, 0 gap) in order ask which brain mechanisms are involved in
this control, and whether volitional control (VC) of the soft palate
differs from its control during speech (SC). Anterior rhinometry
revealed that 7 subjects (6M) out of 10 (8M) screened were able to
volitionally control the soft palate. These 7 subjects were scanned
using a block-design paradigm containing a VC condition, an SC
condition, and an oral-breathing baseline. VC was generated
following a cue, and SC was generated by pronunciation of two
meaningless words composed of consonants causing the opening
and closure of the soft palate. Initial analysis (p