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Olfactory sulcal depth and olfactory bulb volume in patients with schizophrenia: an MRI study

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Abstract

The current report used structural magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to objectively measure olfactory bulb volume and olfactory sulcal depth in patients diagnosed with chronic schizophrenia and healthy controls. Additional measures were obtained to assess olfactory function. The olfactory bulb and sulcus were manually traced on structural 3T MRIs for 25 right-handed male patients diagnosed with chronic schizophrenia and 25 matched male healthy controls. A sub-set of subjects received the University of Pennsylvania Smell Identification Test (UPSIT). Olfactory bulb volume was significantly decreased in patients with schizophrenia compared to healthy controls, as was their performance on the UPSIT. Additionally, a positive correlation was seen in patients between right bulb volume and UPSIT scores. Overall, our findings support earlier research studies showing morphometric and functional changes in the olfactory system in patients with schizophrenia.

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Acknowledgment

We wish to thank Jorge Alvorado BS for his work with the olfactory sulcus reliability and tracing procedure and Fawad Taj, MD for his work on reliability with the olfactory sulcus. We also wish to thank Doug Terry BA for his advice on biostatistics, as well as Lindsay F Morra BA, Jenna M Mezin, BA and Shannon Sorenson, BA for their work with administering the UPSIT tests.

This work was supported in part by VA Merit Awards (JJL, MES, RWM), by a VA Schizophrenia Center Grant (RWM, MES), by a K05 Award supported by the National Institute of Mental Health (MH 070047 to MES), by an R01 Award supported by the National Institute of Mental Health (MH 50740 to MES), and by support from an NIH Mental Health Center for Clinical Interventional Development and Applied Research (P50 11P50 MH 080272; RWM, MES).

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The authors of this empirical paper report no conflict of interest.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychiatry at the VA Boston Healthcare System, Harvard Medical School, Brockton, MA, USA

    An D. Nguyen, Martha E. Shenton, Robert W. McCarley & James J. Levitt

  2. Psychiatry Neuroimaging Laboratory, Department of Psychiatry at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA

    An D. Nguyen, Paula E. Pelavin, Martha E. Shenton, Priyanka Chilakamarri, Robert W. McCarley, Paul G. Nestor & James J. Levitt

  3. VA Boston Healthcare System, Harvard Medical School, Brockton Campus, 116A4, 940 Belmont Street, Brockton, MA, 02301, USA

    James J. Levitt

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  1. An D. Nguyen
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Correspondence to James J. Levitt.

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Authorship: The authors affirm having had full access to all data from the study; both from what is reported and what is unreported, and also that the authors had complete freedom to direct this study’s analysis and reporting, without influence from the sponsors. The corresponding authors also affirm that there was no editorial direction or censorship from any sponsors.

Statement: This empirical article represents original materials, it has not been previously published, and it is not under consideration for publication elsewhere.

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Nguyen, A.D., Pelavin, P.E., Shenton, M.E. et al. Olfactory sulcal depth and olfactory bulb volume in patients with schizophrenia: an MRI study. Brain Imaging and Behavior 5, 252–261 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11682-011-9129-0

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