2009 Abstracts - Association for Chemoreception Sciences

Combining both techniques we aimed to gain more insight aboutregions involved in generation of olfactory ERPs. Subjects andMethods: Eighteen hyposmic IPD patients of same age and samestage of disease (: ERP+: 3 patients = 1.5; 5 patients ≥ 2; 1 patient=3, vs. ERP -: 5 patients ≤ 1.5; 2 patients ≥ 2; 2 patient =3) wereexamined using olfactory ERPs. According to the detectability (+)or non-detectability (-) of ERPs patients were assigned into twogroups of 9 subjects each (ERP+: 6 women, 3 men; and ERP- :2women, 7 men) . Central activation during olfactory stimulationwas examined using fMRI. Results: Both groups, ERP+ and ERPpatientsshowed activity in areas relevant to olfactory processingsuch as amygdala, parahippocampal regions and inferior frontalgyrus. ERP+ patients activated additional frontal and temporalregions. Contrasts between both groups showed higher activity inERP+ patients, especially in amygdala, parahippocampal cortex,insula, cingulate gyrus, striatum and inferior temporal gyrus.Conclusion: The degree of central nervous activation in IPDpatients reflects the difference in olfactory function as depicted inthe presence or absence of an ERP. Moreover, the limitedactivation in the ERP- group in primary olfactory areas leads tothe assumption that further olfactory processing in IPD isseverely disturbed.#P11 Poster session I: Chemosensory disorders,models and aging/Central chemosensory circuitsScent marking and countermarking behaviors as a measureof olfactory communication in the BTBR T+tf/J inbredstrain, a mouse model of autismFlorence I. Roullet, Markus Wöhr, Mu Yang, Jacqueline N.CrawleyLaboratory of Behavioural Neuroscience- National Instituteof Mental Health Bethesda, MD, USAAutism is a neurodevelopmental disorder of unknown cause thatis usually diagnosed before 3 years of age. No consistentphysiological hallmarks of the disease have been identified so far.Diagnosis is currently based on three behavioral criteria: 1)abnormal reciprocal social interactions, 2) impaired verbal andnon-verbal communication, and 3) repetitive, restricted interests.Mouse models of autism provide translational strategies to testhypotheses about the causes and to develop treatments. Whileassays are available for social interaction and repetitive behaviorsin those models, there is a need for relevant methods to assesscommunication impairments. We are currently developingbehavioral tools to address specifically the question of olfactorycommunication in mice. The first task under developmentexamines scent marking in male mice, evoked by female urine.Ultrasonic vocalizations emitted by the male subject mice whilesniffing the female urine spot are simultaneously recorded. Forthis task, we compare sexually experienced male mice to sexuallynaïve male mice. The second task focuses on the territorialcountermarking behavior of male mice. After a first male has scentmarked an arena, he is removed and a second male is then placed.Countermarks from the second male are scored. Data will beshown from experiments using those two assays to compare astandard inbred strain that exhibits high sociability, C57BL/6J, toour best mouse model of autism, BTBR T+tf/J (BTBR). Ourlaboratory and other previously demonstrated that the BTBRinbred strain exhibits multiple social deficits along with repetitivepattern of behaviors that are analogous to the core symptoms ofautism. The present experiments explore the hypothesis thatBTBR traits also include olfactory communication deficits.#P12 Poster session I: Chemosensory disorders,models and aging/Central chemosensory circuitsTaste damage following radiation treatment for head andneck cancerHenrietta L. Logan, Linda M. Bartoshuk, Vicki D. Mayo,William M. MendenhallUniversity of Florida Gainesville, FL, USAPatients report taste damage following radiation treatment forhead and neck cancer. In addition, we recently found anassociation between reports of altered taste, elevated oral pain andthe presence of taste phantoms among 5-year survivors of headand neck cancer compared to a non-cancer comparison group(Logan et al, 2008). To further understand the extent of tastedamage from radiation treatment we used spatial taste tests on2-year cancer survivors (48 men and 13 women) and an age andsex matched non cancer comparison group (38 Men and 17women). NaCl, sucrose, citric acid and quinine were swabbed onloci innervated by the chorda tympani (CN VII) andglossopharyngeal (CN IX) nerves; whole mouth taste was testedas well. It was hypothesized that the 2-year survivors would showtaste damage at sites associated with the glossopharyngeal nervebecause of the location of the tumor and radiation treatment (baseof tongue and tonsil tumors). Results of t-tests (alpha levels wereadjusted for multiple tests) showed significantly lower ratingsfrom the cancer survivors compared to the control group forquinine, sugar, and citric acid at the circumvallate papillae but notNaCl. There were no significant differences between the twogroups for the fungiform papillae or whole mouth. Functionrelated oral pain but not spontaneous oral pain was significantlyhigher among the 2-year cancer survivors; the survivors alsoreported more taste phantoms. These findings support the tastenerve dis-inhibition hypothesis by showing that localized damageto the glossopharyngeal taste nerve associated with normal wholemouth taste as well as intensified oral pain and taste phantoms.#P13 Poster session I: Chemosensory disorders,models and aging/Central chemosensory circuitsThe use of odours as emotional triggers in the study ofdysfunctional brain regions in bipolar disorder –an fMRI studySimona Negoias 1 , Emilia Iannilli 1 , Stephanie Krueger 2 ,Johannes Gerber 3 , Thomas Hummel 11Smell & Taste Clinic, Department of Otorhinolaryngology ,University of Dresden Medical School Dresden, Germany,2Department of Neuroradiology, University of Dresden MedicalSchool Dresden, Germany, 3 Department of Psychiatry andPsychotherapy, Charité University Medicine Berlin, Campus MitteBerlin, GermanyAn emotional over reactivity is a trait characteristic of bipolardisorder. Exploring brain abnormalities underlying thisdysfunction is important for understanding the pathology ofbipolar disorder and identifying potential risk factors fordeveloping this disease. In this study we used fMRI to investigatethe brain activation of 11 euthymic bipolar patients exposed to2 hedonically different olfactory stimuli compared to a healthycontrol group matched for age, sex, and smoking behavior. Muchmore activated voxels in the anterior limbic network were foundin the Patients vs. Control contrast when presenting either thepleasant or the unpleasant odor. Olfaction seems to be aninteresting model for investigating abnormal patterns of brain30 | AChemS Abstracts 2009