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Involvement of Subcortical Brain Structures During Olfactory Stimulation in Multiple Chemical Sensitivity

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Abstract

Multiple chemical sensitivity (MCS) patients usually react to odour compounds and the majority of neuroimaging studies assessed, especially at the cortical level, many olfactory-related correlates. The purpose of the present study was to depict sub-cortical metabolic changes during a neutral (NC) and pure (OC) olfactory stimulation by using a recently validated 18F-2-fluoro-2-deoxy-d-glucose (FDG)-positron emission tomography/computer tomography procedure in 26 MCS and 11 healthy (HC) resting subjects undergoing a battery of clinical tests. Twelve subcortical volumes of interest were identified by the automated anatomical labeling library and normalized to thalamus FDG uptake. In both groups, when comparing OC to NC, the within-subjects ANOVA demonstrated a relative decreased metabolism in bilateral putamen and hippocampus and a relative increased metabolism in bilateral amygdala, olfactory cortex (OLF), caudate and pallidum. The between-groups ANOVA demonstrated in MCS a significant higher metabolism in bilateral OLF during NC. As in HC subjects negative correlations were found in OC between FDG uptake in bilateral amygdala and hippocampus and odor pleasantness scale, the latter positively correlated with MCS subjects’ bilateral putamen FDG uptake in OC. Besides FDG uptake resemblances in both groups were found, for the first time a relative higher metabolism increase in OLF in MCS subjects at rest with respect to HC was found. When merging this aspect to the different subcortical FDG uptake correlations patterns in the two groups, the present study demonstrated to describe a peculiar metabolic index of behavioral and neurological aspects of MCS complaints.

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Acknowledgments

The authors express sincerely thanks to MichelAngela Studio for skillful and creative craftsmanship in preparing illustrations.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Clinical Sciences and Translational Medicine, “Tor Vergata” University, Viale Oxford, 81, 00133, Rome, Italy

    Marco Alessandrini, Alessandro Micarelli & Ernesto Bruno

  2. Neuroscience Unit, Department of Systems Medicine, “Tor Vergata” University, Rome, Italy

    Alessandro Micarelli & Mariangela Pierantozzi

  3. Department of Biomedicine and Prevention, “Tor Vergata” University, Rome, Italy

    Agostino Chiaravalloti, Roberta Danieli & Orazio Schillaci

  4. Department of Experimental Medicine, “La Sapienza” University, Rome, Italy

    Giuseppe Genovesi

  5. Department of Hospital Physics, Karolinska Hospital, Stockholm, Sweden

    Johanna Öberg

  6. Institute of Cognitive Sciences and Technologies – CNR, Rome, Italy

    Marco Pagani

  7. Department of Nuclear Medicine, Karolinska University Hospital, Stockholm, Sweden

    Marco Pagani

  8. IRCCS Neuromed, Pozzilli, Italy

    Orazio Schillaci

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  1. Marco Alessandrini
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  2. Alessandro Micarelli
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Correspondence to Alessandro Micarelli.

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Alessandrini, M., Micarelli, A., Chiaravalloti, A. et al. Involvement of Subcortical Brain Structures During Olfactory Stimulation in Multiple Chemical Sensitivity. Brain Topogr 29, 243–252 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10548-015-0453-3

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