Cortico-subcortical metabolic correlates of olfactory processing in healthy resting subjects

Sci Rep. 2014 Jun 3:4:5146. doi: 10.1038/srep05146.

Abstract

A wide network of interconnected areas was previously found in neuroimaging studies involving normal as well as pathological subjects; however literature seems to suffer from a lack of investigation in glucose metabolism behaviour under olfactory condition. Thus, the present work describe for the first time a pure olfactory related brain response of metabolism by using (18)F-fluorodeoxyglucose-Positron Emission Tomography/Computer Tomography in eleven resting subjects undergoing a neutral and a pure olfactory condition. By contrasting these experimental phases, it was possible to depict a re-organization pattern of default mode network structures in a relatively ecological environment. Moreover, by correlating such pattern with a battery of validated olfactory and neuropsychological tests, our work allowed in showing peculiar correlation data that could cluster the subjects sample in a certain range of normality. We believe the present study could integrate the current knowledge in olfactory research and could be a start-up for future contributions.

MeSH terms

  • Brain / physiology*
  • Brain Mapping / methods*
  • Female
  • Fluorodeoxyglucose F18
  • Glucose / metabolism*
  • Humans
  • Male
  • Middle Aged
  • Multimodal Imaging / methods
  • Nerve Net / physiology*
  • Olfactory Perception / physiology*
  • Positron-Emission Tomography / methods
  • Radiopharmaceuticals
  • Reference Values
  • Reproducibility of Results
  • Rest / physiology
  • Sensitivity and Specificity
  • Statistics as Topic
  • Tomography, X-Ray Computed / methods

Substances

  • Radiopharmaceuticals
  • Fluorodeoxyglucose F18
  • Glucose