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An fMRI-based investigation of the effects of odors on the functional connectivity network underlying the working memory

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Abstract

In the human brain, the regions responsible for emotion processing, motivation, and memory are heavily influenced by olfaction, whose neural pathway is directly exposed to the outer world. In this study, we used fMRI to examine how different olfactory conditions might affect the functional connectivity circuit underlying working memory in the brain. To this end, 30 adults (aged 20–35), 13 males and 17 females, with high educational levels were chosen. Participants were screened for potential olfactory issues before undergoing the Sniffin’ sticks test, which was part of the inclusion criteria. Before imaging, each participant was given the required level of training and was then asked to complete four olfactory tests involving pleasant and unpleasant odors, air, and null stimulation. The results of Seed-based analysis suggested a function connection between the inferior parietal region and the left frontal pole region upon olfactory stimulation with vanilla scent in contrast to null stimulation in this comparison, ROI-based analysis revealed an inverse synchronous among the entorhinal cortex, orbitofrontal cortex, and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (dlPFC). Both dlPFC and hippocampus were involved in olfactory discrimination between two different stimulants. Our findings indicate the presence of inverse correlations between several regions associated with olfaction and working memory, with pleasant scents leaving a stronger impact on the working memory-related areas, particularly the inferior parietal region.

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Data availability

The data of this study will be available on request.

Abbreviations

SNR:

Signal Noise Ratio

ms:

Milliseconds

deg:

Degree

fMRI:

Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging

TR:

Time Repetition

TE:

Echo Time

TI:

Inversion Time

FOV:

Field Of View

BOLD:

Blood oxygen level-dependent contrast

MR:

Magnetic Resonance

BET:

Brain Extraction Tool

QC:

Quality Control

SPM:

Statistical Parametric Mapping

FSL:

FMRIB Software Library

FMRIB:

Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging of the Brain

MNI:

Montreal Neurological Institute and Hospital

CONN:

Connectivity

FDR:

False Discovery Rate

OFC:

Olfactory Frontal Cortex

rCBF:

Regional Cerebral Blood Flow

DLPFC:

Dorso-Lateral Prefrontal Cortex

OT:

Odor Threshold test

OI:

Odor Identification

OD:

Odor Discrimination

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Acknowledgements

Thanks to the National Brain Mapping Laboratory (NBML) for MRI acquisition aspects and also the IUMS Medical Physics Department for the Olfactory test process.

Funding

This work was supported by the Iran University of Medical Science.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Clinical Neuroscience and Neuroimaging, Department of Neurology, Institute of Clinical Medicine, University of Eastern Finland, Kuopio, Finland

    Faezeh Heidari

  2. Finetech in Medicine Research Center, School of Medicine, Iran University of Medical Sciences (IUMS), Tehran, Iran

    Mohammad Bagher Shiran, Haniyeh kaheni, Asra Karami & Arash Zare-Sadeghi

  3. Department of Medical Physics, School of Medicine, Iran University of Medical Science (IUMS), Tehran, Iran

    Mohammad Bagher Shiran, Haniyeh kaheni, Asra Karami & Arash Zare-Sadeghi

Authors
  1. Faezeh Heidari
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  2. Mohammad Bagher Shiran
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  3. Haniyeh kaheni
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  4. Asra Karami
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  5. Arash Zare-Sadeghi
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Contributions

Faezeh Heidari: Data curation, Formal analysis, Methodology, Visualization, writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing. Mohammad Bagher Shiran: Conceptualization, Investigation, Methodology, Supervision, Visualization, Writing – review & editing. Asra Karami: Writing – review & editing. haniyeh kaheni: Formal analysis, Writing – review & editing. Arash Zare-Sadeghi: Visualization, Conceptualization, Investigation, Supervision, Writing – review & editing.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Arash Zare-Sadeghi.

Ethics declarations

Ethical approval

This study was approved by the Research Ethics Committee of the Iran University of Medical Sciences (Code: IR.IUMS.FMD.REC.1400.442).

Informed consent

Informed consent was acquired from all subjects who participated in this study.

Competing interests

Not applicable.

Additional information

Communicated by Bill J Yates.

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Heidari, F., Shiran, M.B., kaheni, H. et al. An fMRI-based investigation of the effects of odors on the functional connectivity network underlying the working memory. Exp Brain Res 242, 1561–1571 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00221-024-06848-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00221-024-06848-1

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