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Leon M, Woo CC. Olfactory loss is a predisposing factor for depression, while olfactory enrichment is an effective treatment for depression. Front Neurosci 2022; 16:1013363. [PMID: 36248633 PMCID: PMC9558899 DOI: 10.3389/fnins.2022.1013363] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/06/2022] [Accepted: 09/08/2022] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
The loss of olfactory stimulation correlates well with at least 68 widely differing neurological disorders, including depression, and we raise the possibility that this relationship may be causal. That is, it seems possible that olfactory loss makes the brain vulnerable to expressing the symptoms of these neurological disorders, while daily olfactory enrichment may decrease the risk of expressing these symptoms. This situation resembles the cognitive reserve that is thought to protect people with Alzheimer’s neuropathology from expressing the functional deficit in memory through the cumulative effect of intellectual stimulation. These relationships also resemble the functional response of animal models of human neurological disorders to environmental enrichment, wherein the animals continue to have the induced neuropathology, but do not express the symptoms as they do in a standard environment with restricted sensorimotor stimulation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Michael Leon
- Department of Neurobiology and Behavior, University of California, Irvine, Irvine, CA, United States
- Center for the Neurobiology of Learning and Memory, Institute for Memory Impairments and Neurological Disorders, University of California, Irvine, Irvine, CA, United States
- *Correspondence: Michael Leon,
| | - Cynthia C. Woo
- Department of Neurobiology and Behavior, University of California, Irvine, Irvine, CA, United States
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2
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A methodological investigation of a flexible surface MRI coil to obtain functional signals from the human olfactory bulb. J Neurosci Methods 2020; 335:108624. [PMID: 32032715 DOI: 10.1016/j.jneumeth.2020.108624] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/03/2019] [Revised: 01/21/2020] [Accepted: 02/03/2020] [Indexed: 11/21/2022]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Mammalian olfaction begins with transduction in olfactory receptors, continues with extensive processing in the olfactory bulb, and culminates in cortical representation. Most rodent studies on the functional neuroanatomy of olfaction have concentrated on the olfactory bulb, yet whether this structure is tuned only to basic chemical features of odorants or also to higher-order perceptual features is unclear. NEW METHOD Whereas studies of the human brain can typically uncover involvement of higher-order feature extraction, this has not been possible in the case of the olfactory bulb, inaccessible to fMRI. The present study examined whether a novel method of acquisition using a facial coil could overcome this limitation. RESULTS A series of experiments provided preliminary evidence of odor-driven responses in the human olfactory bulb, and found that these responses differed between individuals. COMPARISON WITH EXISTING METHODS AND CONCLUSIONS The present preliminary technical achievement renders possible to design novel human odor fMRI studies by considering the olfactory system from the olfactory bulb to associative areas.
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Maier A, Heinen-Ludwig L, Güntürkün O, Hurlemann R, Scheele D. Childhood Maltreatment Alters the Neural Processing of Chemosensory Stress Signals. Front Psychiatry 2020; 11:783. [PMID: 32848947 PMCID: PMC7425696 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyt.2020.00783] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/23/2020] [Accepted: 07/22/2020] [Indexed: 12/20/2022] Open
Abstract
Accumulating evidence suggests that childhood maltreatment (CM) confers risk for psychopathology later in life by inducing hypervigilance to social threat cues such as fearful faces. However, it remains unclear whether the modulatory impact of CM extents to the olfactory domain of social communication in humans. To address this question, we examined whether CM modulates the neural processing of chemosensory threat signals in sweat and whether CM affects the stress-reducing effects of oxytocin (OXT) in this context. In a randomized, double-blind within-subject functional MRI study design, 58 healthy participants (30 females) received intranasal OXT (40 IU) or placebo (PLC) and completed a forced-choice emotion recognition task with faces of varying emotion intensities (neutral to fearful) while exposed to sweat stimuli and a non-social control odor. Axillary sweat samples were collected from 30 healthy male donors undergoing an acute psychosocial stressor (stress) and ergometer training (sport) as control in a pre-study. CM was assessed by the 25-item Childhood Trauma Questionnaire (CTQ). The final fMRI analysis included 50 healthy participants (26 females). Regression analysis showed a stress-specific association of CTQ scores with amygdala hyperreactivity, hippocampal deactivation, and increased functional connectivity between the amygdala and the hippocampus, medial orbitofrontal cortex, and the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) under PLC. Furthermore, we observed a positive association of CTQ scores and the dampening effects of OXT on stress-related amygdala responses. Our findings suggest that CM may induce hypervigilance to chemosensory threat cues in a healthy sample due to inefficient frontolimbic inhibition of amygdala activation. Future studies should investigate whether increased recruitment of the intralimbic amygdala-hippocampus complex reflects a compensatory mechanism that prevents the development of psychopathology in those who have experienced CM. Furthermore, the results reveal that the stress-specific effects of OXT in the olfactory domain are more pronounced in participants with increasing levels of CM exposure.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ayline Maier
- Division of Medical Psychology, Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University Hospital Bonn, Bonn, Germany
| | - Luca Heinen-Ludwig
- Division of Medical Psychology, Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University Hospital Bonn, Bonn, Germany
| | - Onur Güntürkün
- Department of Psychology, Laboratory for Biological Psychology, Ruhr-University of Bochum, Bochum, Germany
| | - René Hurlemann
- Department of Psychiatry, School of Medicine & Health Sciences, University of Oldenburg, Oldenburg, Germany.,Research Center Neurosensory Science, University of Oldenburg, Oldenburg, Germany
| | - Dirk Scheele
- Division of Medical Psychology, Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University Hospital Bonn, Bonn, Germany.,Department of Psychiatry, School of Medicine & Health Sciences, University of Oldenburg, Oldenburg, Germany
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Rahimi S, Ragerdikashani M, Beheshti F, Baghishani F, Hosseini M, Saeedi N, Mirdoosti M, Negah SS. Alteration of the neurogenesis and long term potential of olfactory bulb in an animal model of PTSD. Acta Neurobiol Exp (Wars) 2020. [DOI: 10.21307/ane-2020-030] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/11/2022]
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Daniels JK, Schulz A, Schellong J, Han P, Rottstädt F, Diers K, Weidner K, Croy I. Gray Matter Alterations Associated With Dissociation in Female Survivors of Childhood Trauma. Front Psychol 2019; 10:738. [PMID: 31024390 PMCID: PMC6460891 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2019.00738] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/05/2018] [Accepted: 03/16/2019] [Indexed: 12/31/2022] Open
Abstract
Objective Across various axis-1 disorders, the severity of dissociative symptoms is significantly related to a history of childhood traumatization. Thus, the question arises if coping with childhood trauma leads to neural adaptations that enhance the frequency of dissociative processing during adulthood. The aim of the two reported studies therefore was to identify and replicate gray matter alterations associated with dissociation. Methods and Results In a first study, whole-brain MRI data were acquired for 22 female in-patients with trauma-spectrum disorders and a history of severe childhood trauma. Voxel-based morphometry (VBM) was carried out to test for significant correlations between dissociation (depersonalization/derealization) severity and gray matter volume. Dissociation severity was positively associated with volume in the left angular gyrus. This result was diagnosis-invariant. The replication study involved 26 female in-patients with trauma-spectrum disorders and 25 healthy controls. No significant association between dissociation severity and brain volume in a left angular gyrus region of interest located at the peak identified in study 1 was identified and no significant group difference in this region could be established. Conclusion The angular gyrus has previously been implicated in the processing of agency and vestibular integration as well as dissociative processing. The current attempt at a direct replication of brain volume alterations however, failed. The data thus only partially support the notion that dissociative processing is associated trans-diagnostically with structural brain alterations in the left angular gyrus and independent replication in a larger patient sample is essential.
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Affiliation(s)
- Judith K Daniels
- Division of Clinical Psychology and Experimental Psychopathology, Department of Psychology, University of Groningen, Groningen, Netherlands.,Psychologische Hochschule Berlin, Berlin, Germany
| | - Anna Schulz
- Abteilung für Psychotherapie und Psychosomatik, Medizinische Fakultät Dresden, Technische Universität Dresden, Dresden, Germany
| | - Julia Schellong
- Abteilung für Psychotherapie und Psychosomatik, Medizinische Fakultät Dresden, Technische Universität Dresden, Dresden, Germany
| | - Pengfei Han
- Abteilung für Psychologie, Technische Universität Dresden, Dresden, Germany
| | - Fabian Rottstädt
- Abteilung für Psychotherapie und Psychosomatik, Medizinische Fakultät Dresden, Technische Universität Dresden, Dresden, Germany
| | - Kersten Diers
- Abteilung für Hals-Nasen-Ohren-Heilkunde, Medizinische Fakultät Dresden, Technische Universität Dresden, Dresden, Germany
| | - Kerstin Weidner
- Abteilung für Psychotherapie und Psychosomatik, Medizinische Fakultät Dresden, Technische Universität Dresden, Dresden, Germany
| | - Ilona Croy
- Abteilung für Psychotherapie und Psychosomatik, Medizinische Fakultät Dresden, Technische Universität Dresden, Dresden, Germany
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Schäfer L, Schellong J, Hähner A, Weidner K, Hüttenbrink KB, Trautmann S, Hummel T, Croy I. Nocturnal Olfactory Stimulation for Improvement of Sleep Quality in Patients With Posttraumatic Stress Disorder: A Randomized Exploratory Intervention Trial. J Trauma Stress 2019; 32:130-140. [PMID: 30681196 DOI: 10.1002/jts.22359] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/16/2018] [Revised: 09/11/2018] [Accepted: 09/20/2018] [Indexed: 11/06/2022]
Abstract
Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is characterized by sleep impairment and nightmares. As pleasant odors presented during sleep affect the emotional tone of dreams without inducing arousal, we investigated whether sleep patterns in PTSD can be improved via nocturnal olfactory stimulation. Participants were 40 inpatients with PTSD (n = 35 women; age range: 20-59 years) who completed a randomized, patient-blind, placebo-controlled trial. Baseline measurement for 5 consecutive nights was followed by a 5-night experimental intervention or placebo trial. During the intervention, patients received nocturnal stimulation with a pleasant odor (odor condition) or clean air (placebo condition) via an olfactometer that delivered inspiration-triggered stimuli in a nasal tube or via an odorized nasal clip. After each night, the patients completed standardized questionnaires that assessed sleep parameters and dream content. Each night, sleep efficiency, sleep onset latency, and wakefulness after sleep onset were monitored with a motion biosensor. Baseline assessment revealed that PTSD severity was associated with poorer sleep outcomes. An interaction effect showed that nocturnal odorization affected dream intensity. Post hoc tests revealed an improvement in the group that used the nasal clip as compared to baseline, d = 0.68. No negative effects were observed after odorization with the nasal clip. Considering the limited sample size, the study indicates that nocturnal olfactory stimulation may serve as a low-cost concomitant intervention to improve sleep quality in PTSD.
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Affiliation(s)
- Laura Schäfer
- Department of Psychotherapy and Psychosomatic Medicine, Technische Universität, Dresden, Germany
| | - Julia Schellong
- Department of Psychotherapy and Psychosomatic Medicine, Technische Universität, Dresden, Germany
| | - Antje Hähner
- Smell and Taste Clinic, Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Technische Universität, Dresden, Germany
| | - Kerstin Weidner
- Department of Psychotherapy and Psychosomatic Medicine, Technische Universität, Dresden, Germany
| | | | - Sebastian Trautmann
- Institute of Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy, Technische Universität, Dresden, Germany
| | - Thomas Hummel
- Smell and Taste Clinic, Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Technische Universität, Dresden, Germany
| | - Ilona Croy
- Department of Psychotherapy and Psychosomatic Medicine, Technische Universität, Dresden, Germany
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The neural correlates of Childhood Trauma Questionnaire scores in adults: A meta-analysis and review of functional magnetic resonance imaging studies. Dev Psychopathol 2017; 30:1475-1485. [PMID: 29224580 DOI: 10.1017/s0954579417001717] [Citation(s) in RCA: 53] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/06/2023]
Abstract
Childhood maltreatment, including abuse and neglect, may have sustained effects on the integrity and functioning of the brain, alter neurophysiological responsivity later in life, and predispose individuals toward psychiatric conditions involving socioaffective disturbances. This meta-analysis aims to quantify associations between self-reported childhood maltreatment and brain function in response to socioaffective cues in adults. Seventeen functional magnetic resonance imaging studies reporting on data from 848 individuals examined with the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire were included in a meta-analysis of whole-brain findings, or a review of region of interest findings. The spatial consistency of peak activations associated with maltreatment exposure was tested using activation likelihood estimation, using a threshold of p < .05 corrected for multiple comparisons. Adults exposed to childhood maltreatment showed significantly increased activation in the left superior frontal gyrus and left middle temporal gyrus, and decreased activation in the left superior parietal lobule and the left hippocampus. Although hyperresponsivity to socioaffective cues in the amygdala and ventral anterior cingulate cortex in correlation with maltreatment severity is a replicated finding in region of interest studies, null results are reported as well. The findings suggest that childhood maltreatment has sustained effects on brain function into adulthood, and highlight potential mechanisms for conveying vulnerability to development of psychopathology.
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Yang S, Cheng Y, Mo Y, Bai Y, Shen Z, Liu F, Li N, Jiang L, Chen W, Lu Y, Sun X, Xu X. Childhood maltreatment is associated with gray matter volume abnormalities in patients with first-episode depression. Psychiatry Res Neuroimaging 2017; 268:27-34. [PMID: 28843886 DOI: 10.1016/j.pscychresns.2017.07.005] [Citation(s) in RCA: 24] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/29/2016] [Revised: 06/26/2017] [Accepted: 07/25/2017] [Indexed: 12/27/2022]
Abstract
Previous neuroimaging studies suggest that childhood maltreatment (CM) can affect brain function and structure and constitutes a potent risk of developing depression. The present study attempts to differentiate the effect of CM from the impact of depression diagnosis on brain structure. Eighty-four patients with first-episode depression and 84 controls participated in this study. All subjects underwent a structural magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scan. Voxel-based morphometric analysis of variance (ANOVA), between-group comparison, and regression analyses were performed on a whole-brain level to identify the unbiased effects of CM and depression on brain structure. Our data showed different main effects of CM and depression on brain structure separately: the significant main effect of CM on fronto-limbic areas, visual cortex and cerebellum, and the main effect of depression on orbitofrontal regions and bilateral temporal lobes. The maltreatment-by-diagnosis interaction effect was found located on the bilateral prefrontal cortex. The CM severity was negatively related with the inferior occipital volume and positively with volumes in the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, right caudate, and left middle temporal gyrus. This study suggested that early life stress like CM is associated with structural abnormalities of the fronto-limbic regions that are commonly regarded as the psychopathological consequence of depression. The effect of CM on brain structure should be considered in future neuroimaging research of depression.
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Affiliation(s)
- Shuran Yang
- Department of Psychiatry, The First Affiliated Hospital of Kunming Medical University, Kunming, Yunnan, People's Republic of China
| | - Yuqi Cheng
- Department of Psychiatry, The First Affiliated Hospital of Kunming Medical University, Kunming, Yunnan, People's Republic of China
| | - Yin Mo
- Department of Imaging, The First Affiliated Hospital of Kunming Medical University, Kunming, Yunnan, People's Republic of China
| | - Yan Bai
- Department of Psychiatry, The First Affiliated Hospital of Kunming Medical University, Kunming, Yunnan, People's Republic of China
| | - Zonglin Shen
- Department of Psychiatry, The First Affiliated Hospital of Kunming Medical University, Kunming, Yunnan, People's Republic of China
| | - Fang Liu
- Department of Psychiatry, The First Affiliated Hospital of Kunming Medical University, Kunming, Yunnan, People's Republic of China
| | - Na Li
- Department of Psychiatry, The First Affiliated Hospital of Kunming Medical University, Kunming, Yunnan, People's Republic of China
| | - Linling Jiang
- Department of Psychiatry, The First Affiliated Hospital of Kunming Medical University, Kunming, Yunnan, People's Republic of China
| | - Wei Chen
- Department of Imaging, The First Affiliated Hospital of Kunming Medical University, Kunming, Yunnan, People's Republic of China
| | - Yi Lu
- Department of Imaging, The First Affiliated Hospital of Kunming Medical University, Kunming, Yunnan, People's Republic of China
| | - Xuejin Sun
- Department of Imaging, The First Affiliated Hospital of Kunming Medical University, Kunming, Yunnan, People's Republic of China
| | - Xiufeng Xu
- Department of Psychiatry, The First Affiliated Hospital of Kunming Medical University, Kunming, Yunnan, People's Republic of China.
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Dissociated neural representations induced by complex and simple odorant molecules. Neuroscience 2015; 287:23-31. [DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroscience.2014.12.011] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/01/2014] [Revised: 12/08/2014] [Accepted: 12/09/2014] [Indexed: 11/21/2022]
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10
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Olfaction as a marker for depression in humans. J Affect Disord 2014; 160:80-6. [PMID: 24445134 DOI: 10.1016/j.jad.2013.12.026] [Citation(s) in RCA: 128] [Impact Index Per Article: 12.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/17/2013] [Revised: 12/16/2013] [Accepted: 12/16/2013] [Indexed: 02/01/2023]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Animal studies show a strong link between the loss of olfactory function and depressive behavior. We analyzed, whether olfactory function is a marker for depression in humans. If so, reduced olfactory function can be expected in depression that improves to level of normality after successful antidepressive treatment. METHODS Twenty-seven female in-patients with depression were compared to 28 healthy age-matched women at the beginning and at the end of antidepressive therapy or at two visits, respectively. Olfactory function was assessed comprehensively including threshold, discrimination and identification testing, chemosensory event related potentials and olfactory functional magnetic resonance imaging. RESULTS At the beginning of psychotherapy the patients exhibited reduced olfactory discrimination, prolonged latencies of the event-related potential and reduced activation in secondary olfactory structures (thalamus, insula, and left middle orbitofrontal). After therapy, patients improved significantly in all of the parameters and consequently the differences between control group and patients vanished. LIMITATIONS AND CONCLUSION We conclude that olfaction is a marker for depression. However, the results are limited to a relatively selective sample of depressed women.
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Lübke KT, Croy I, Hoenen M, Gerber J, Pause BM, Hummel T. Does human body odor represent a significant and rewarding social signal to individuals high in social openness? PLoS One 2014; 9:e94314. [PMID: 24718308 PMCID: PMC3981800 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0094314] [Citation(s) in RCA: 24] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/19/2013] [Accepted: 03/15/2014] [Indexed: 01/31/2023] Open
Abstract
Across a wide variety of domains, experts differ from novices in their response to stimuli linked to their respective field of expertise. It is currently unknown whether similar patterns can be observed with regard to social expertise. The current study therefore focuses on social openness, a central social skill necessary to initiate social contact. Human body odors were used as social cues, as they inherently signal the presence of another human being. Using functional MRI, hemodynamic brain responses to body odors of women reporting a high (n = 14) or a low (n = 12) level of social openness were compared. Greater activation within the inferior frontal gyrus and the caudate nucleus was observed in high socially open individuals compared to individuals low in social openness. With the inferior frontal gyrus being a crucial part of the human mirror neuron system, and the caudate nucleus being implicated in social reward, it is discussed whether human body odor might constitute more of a significant and rewarding social signal to individuals high in social openness compared to individuals low in social openness process.
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Affiliation(s)
- Katrin T. Lübke
- Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Düsseldorf, Düsseldorf, Germany
- * E-mail:
| | - Ilona Croy
- Department of Otorhinolaryngology, University of Dresden Medical School, Dresden, Germany
| | - Matthias Hoenen
- Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Düsseldorf, Düsseldorf, Germany
| | - Johannes Gerber
- Department of Neuroradiology, University of Dresden Medical School, Dresden, Germany
| | - Bettina M. Pause
- Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Düsseldorf, Düsseldorf, Germany
| | - Thomas Hummel
- Department of Otorhinolaryngology, University of Dresden Medical School, Dresden, Germany
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Cortical thickness, surface area, and gyrification abnormalities in children exposed to maltreatment: neural markers of vulnerability? Biol Psychiatry 2013; 74:845-52. [PMID: 23954109 DOI: 10.1016/j.biopsych.2013.06.020] [Citation(s) in RCA: 157] [Impact Index Per Article: 14.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/15/2013] [Revised: 06/07/2013] [Accepted: 06/24/2013] [Indexed: 11/20/2022]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Childhood maltreatment has been shown to significantly elevate the risk of psychiatric disorder. Previous neuroimaging studies of children exposed to maltreatment have reported atypical neural structure in several regions, including the prefrontal cortex and temporal lobes. These studies have exclusively investigated volumetric differences rather than focusing on genetically and developmentally distinct indices of brain structure. METHODS Here we used surface-based methods to examine cortical thickness, surface area, and local gyrification in a community sample of children with documented experiences of abuse (n = 22) and a group of carefully matched nonmaltreated peers (n = 21). RESULTS Reduced cortical thickness in the maltreated compared with the nonmaltreated group was observed in an extended cluster that incorporated the anterior cingulate, superior frontal gyrus, and orbitofrontal cortex. In addition, reduced cortical surface area was observed within the parcellated regions of the left middle temporal area and lingual gyrus. Local gyrification deficits within the maltreated group were located within two clusters, the lingual gyrus and the insula extending into pars opercularis. CONCLUSIONS This is the first time structural abnormalities in the anterior cingulate and lingual gyrus have been detected in children exposed to maltreatment. Surface-based methods seem to capture subtle, previously undetected, morphological abnormalities associated with maltreatment. We suggest that these approaches detect developmental precursors of brain volume differences seen in adults with histories of abuse. Because the reported regions are implicated in several clinical disorders, they might constitute biological markers of vulnerability, linking exposure to early adversity and psychiatric risk.
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Altered olfactory processing of stress-related body odors and artificial odors in patients with panic disorder. PLoS One 2013; 8:e74655. [PMID: 24086358 PMCID: PMC3782473 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0074655] [Citation(s) in RCA: 22] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/24/2013] [Accepted: 08/08/2013] [Indexed: 01/04/2023] Open
Abstract
Background Patients with Panic Disorder (PD) direct their attention towards potential threat, followed by panic attacks, and increased sweat production. Onés own anxiety sweat odor influences the attentional focus, and discrimination of threat or non-threat. Since olfactory projection areas overlap with neuronal areas of a panic-specific fear network, the present study investigated the neuronal processing of odors in general and of stress-related sweat odors in particular in patients with PD. Methods A sample of 13 patients with PD with/ without agoraphobia and 13 age- and gender-matched healthy controls underwent an fMRI investigation during olfactory stimulation with their stress-related sweat odors (TSST, ergometry) as well as artificial odors (peach, artificial sweat) as non-fearful non-body odors. Principal Findings The two groups did not differ with respect to their olfactory identification ability. Independent of the kind of odor, the patients with PD showed activations in fronto-cortical areas in contrast to the healthy controls who showed activations in olfaction-related areas such as the amygdalae and the hippocampus. For artificial odors, the patients with PD showed a decreased neuronal activation of the thalamus, the posterior cingulate cortex and the anterior cingulate cortex. Under the presentation of sweat odor caused by ergometric exercise, the patients with PD showed an increased activation in the superior temporal gyrus, the supramarginal gyrus, and the cingulate cortex which was positively correlated with the severity of the psychopathology. For the sweat odor from the anxiety condition, the patients with PD showed an increased activation in the gyrus frontalis inferior, which was positively correlated with the severity of the psychopathology. Conclusions The results suggest altered neuronal processing of olfactory stimuli in PD. Both artificial odors and stress-related body odors activate specific parts of a fear-network which is associated with an increased severity of the psychopathology.
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Croy I, Maboshe W, Hummel T. Habituation effects of pleasant and unpleasant odors. Int J Psychophysiol 2013; 88:104-8. [DOI: 10.1016/j.ijpsycho.2013.02.005] [Citation(s) in RCA: 41] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/14/2012] [Revised: 02/18/2013] [Accepted: 02/20/2013] [Indexed: 10/27/2022]
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Fonzo GA, Flagan TM, Sullivan S, Allard CB, Grimes EM, Simmons AN, Paulus MP, Stein MB. Neural functional and structural correlates of childhood maltreatment in women with intimate-partner violence-related posttraumatic stress disorder. Psychiatry Res 2013; 211:93-103. [PMID: 23154098 PMCID: PMC3570713 DOI: 10.1016/j.pscychresns.2012.08.006] [Citation(s) in RCA: 63] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/02/2011] [Revised: 02/29/2012] [Accepted: 08/16/2012] [Indexed: 10/27/2022]
Abstract
Childhood maltreatment (CM) is a strong risk factor for development of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) upon adult exposure to extreme adverse events. However, the neural underpinnings of this relationship are not well understood. Here, we test the hypothesis that severity of CM history is positively correlated with emotion-processing limbic and prefrontal brain activation/connectivity and negatively correlated with prefrontal gray matter volumes in women with PTSD due to intimate-partner violence (IPV-PTSD). Thirty-three women with IPV-PTSD underwent structural and functional magnetic resonance imaging while completing a facial emotion processing task. Multivariate regressions examined the relationship of CM to patterns of activation, connectivity, and gray matter volumes. CM severity was: (a) positively correlated with ventral ACC activation while processing angry faces; (b) negatively correlated with dorsal ACC and insula activation while processing fear and angry faces, arising from positive correlations with the shape-matching baseline; (c) positively correlated with limbic-prefrontal connectivity while processing fear faces but negatively correlated with amygdalo-insular connectivity while processing fear and angry; and (d) negatively correlated with prefrontal gray matter volumes. These results suggest CM exposure may account for variability in limbic/prefrontal brain function and prefrontal structure in adulthood PTSD and offer one potential mechanism through which CM confers risk to future development of PTSD.
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Affiliation(s)
- Gregory A. Fonzo
- San Diego State University/University of California-San Diego Joint Doctoral Program in Clinical Psychology, San Diego, CA, USA,Corresponding Author's Info: Greg Fonzo, 9500 Gilman Dr, MC 0855, La Jolla, CA 92093, USA; Tel: +1 858 246 0622; Fax: +1 858 534 6460; (G. A. Fonzo)
| | - Taru M. Flagan
- Department of Psychiatry, University of California-San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA
| | - Sarah Sullivan
- Department of Psychiatry, University of California-San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA
| | - Carolyn B. Allard
- Department of Psychiatry, University of California-San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA
| | - Erin M. Grimes
- Department of Psychiatry, University of California-San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA
| | - Alan N. Simmons
- Department of Psychiatry, University of California-San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA,VA San Diego Healthcare System, San Diego, CA, USA,Center of Excellence in Stress and Mental Health, San Diego, CA, USA
| | - Martin P. Paulus
- Department of Psychiatry, University of California-San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA,VA San Diego Healthcare System, San Diego, CA, USA
| | - Murray B. Stein
- Department of Psychiatry, University of California-San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA,VA San Diego Healthcare System, San Diego, CA, USA,Department of Family and Preventive Medicine, University of California-San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA
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Bensafi M, Croy I, Phillips N, Rouby C, Sezille C, Gerber J, Small DM, Hummel T. The effect of verbal context on olfactory neural responses. Hum Brain Mapp 2012; 35:810-8. [PMID: 23225581 DOI: 10.1002/hbm.22215] [Citation(s) in RCA: 23] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/11/2012] [Revised: 09/14/2012] [Accepted: 10/02/2012] [Indexed: 11/07/2022] Open
Abstract
Odor names refer usually to "source" object categories. For example, the smell of rose is often described with its source category (flower). However, linguistic studies suggest that odors can also be named with labels referring to categories of "practices". This is the case when rose odor is described with a verbal label referring to its use in fragrance practices ("body lotion," cosmetic for example). It remains unknown whether naming an odor by its practice category influences olfactory neural responses differently than that observed when named with its source category. The aim of this study was to investigate this question. To this end, functional MRI was used in a within-subjects design comparing brain responses to four different odors (peach, chocolate, linden blossom, and rose) under two conditions whereby smells were described either (1) with their source category label (food and flower) or (2) with a practice category label (body lotion). Both types of labels induced activations in secondary olfactory areas (orbitofrontal cortex), whereas only the source label condition induced activation in the cingulate cortex and the insula. In summary, our findings offer a new look at olfactory perception by indicating differential brain responses depending on whether odors are named according to their source or practice category.
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Affiliation(s)
- Moustafa Bensafi
- CNRS, UMR5292, Lyon Neuroscience Research Center, University Lyon, F-69000, France
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Bensafi M, Iannilli E, Poncelet J, Seo HS, Gerber J, Rouby C, Hummel T. Dissociated representations of pleasant and unpleasant olfacto-trigeminal mixtures: an FMRI study. PLoS One 2012; 7:e38358. [PMID: 22701631 PMCID: PMC3373527 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0038358] [Citation(s) in RCA: 31] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/28/2011] [Accepted: 05/03/2012] [Indexed: 11/21/2022] Open
Abstract
How the pleasantness of chemosensory stimuli such as odorants or intranasal trigeminal compounds is processed in the human brain has been the focus of considerable recent interest. Yet, so far, only the unimodal form of this hedonic processing has been explored, and not its bimodal form during crossmodal integration of olfactory and trigeminal stimuli. The main purpose of the present study was to investigate this question. To this end, functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) was used in an experiment comparing brain activation related to a pleasant and a relatively unpleasant olfacto-trigeminal mixture, and to their individual components (CO(2) alone, Orange alone, Rose alone). Results revealed first common neural activity patterns in response to both mixtures in a number of regions: notably the superior temporal gyrus and the caudate nucleus. Common activations were also observed in the insula, although the pleasant mixture activated the right insula whereas the unpleasant mixture activated the left insula. However, specific activations were observed in anterior cingulate gyrus and the ventral tegmental area only during the perception of the pleasant mixture. These findings emphasized for the firs time the involvement of the latter structures in processing of pleasantness during crossmodal integration of chemosensory stimuli.
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Affiliation(s)
- Moustafa Bensafi
- Lyon Neuroscience Research Center, CNRS, UMR5292, University Lyon, Lyon, France.
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Hart H, Rubia K. Neuroimaging of child abuse: a critical review. Front Hum Neurosci 2012; 6:52. [PMID: 22457645 PMCID: PMC3307045 DOI: 10.3389/fnhum.2012.00052] [Citation(s) in RCA: 388] [Impact Index Per Article: 32.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/06/2011] [Accepted: 02/27/2012] [Indexed: 12/30/2022] Open
Abstract
Childhood maltreatment is a stressor that can lead to the development of behavior problems and affect brain structure and function. This review summarizes the current evidence for the effects of childhood maltreatment on behavior, cognition and the brain in adults and children. Neuropsychological studies suggest an association between child abuse and deficits in IQ, memory, working memory, attention, response inhibition and emotion discrimination. Structural neuroimaging studies provide evidence for deficits in brain volume, gray and white matter of several regions, most prominently the dorsolateral and ventromedial prefrontal cortex but also hippocampus, amygdala, and corpus callosum (CC). Diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) studies show evidence for deficits in structural interregional connectivity between these areas, suggesting neural network abnormalities. Functional imaging studies support this evidence by reporting atypical activation in the same brain regions during response inhibition, working memory, and emotion processing. There are, however, several limitations of the abuse research literature which are discussed, most prominently the lack of control for co-morbid psychiatric disorders, which make it difficult to disentangle which of the above effects are due to maltreatment, the associated psychiatric conditions or a combination or interaction between both. Overall, the better controlled studies that show a direct correlation between childhood abuse and brain measures suggest that the most prominent deficits associated with early childhood abuse are in the function and structure of lateral and ventromedial fronto-limbic brain areas and networks that mediate behavioral and affect control. Future, large scale multimodal neuroimaging studies in medication-naïve subjects, however, are needed that control for psychiatric co-morbidities in order to elucidate the structural and functional brain sequelae that are associated with early environmental adversity, independently of secondary co-morbid conditions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Heledd Hart
- Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Institute of Psychiatry, King's CollegeLondon, UK
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McCrory E, De Brito SA, Viding E. The impact of childhood maltreatment: a review of neurobiological and genetic factors. Front Psychiatry 2011; 2:48. [PMID: 21847382 PMCID: PMC3148713 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyt.2011.00048] [Citation(s) in RCA: 167] [Impact Index Per Article: 12.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/20/2011] [Accepted: 07/19/2011] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Childhood maltreatment represents a significant risk factor for psychopathology. Recent research has begun to examine both the functional and structural neurobiological correlates of adverse care-giving experiences, including maltreatment, and how these might impact on a child's psychological and emotional development. The relationship between such experiences and risk for psychopathology has been shown to vary as a function of genetic factors. In this review we begin by providing a brief overview of neuroendocrine findings, which indicate an association between maltreatment and atypical development of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis stress response, which may predispose to psychiatric vulnerability in adulthood. We then selectively review the magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) studies that have investigated possible structural and functional brain differences in children and adults who have experienced childhood maltreatment. Differences in the corpus callosum identified by structural MRI have now been reliably reported in children who have experienced abuse, while differences in the hippocampus have been reported in adults with childhood histories of maltreatment. In addition, there is preliminary evidence from functional MRI studies of adults who have experienced childhood maltreatment of amygdala hyperactivity and atypical activation of frontal regions. These functional differences can be partly understood in the context of the information biases observed in event-related potential and behavioral studies of physically abused children. Finally we consider research that has indicated that the effect of environmental adversity may be moderated by genotype, reviewing pertinent studies pointing to gene by environment interactions. We conclude by exploring the extent to which the growing evidence base in relation to neurobiological and genetic research may be relevant to clinical practice and intervention.
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Affiliation(s)
- Eamon McCrory
- Developmental Risk and Resilience Unit, Division of Psychology and Language Sciences, University College London London, UK
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