Abstract
Objectives:
Recent neuroimaging studies have shown that odorant-induced responses to prolonged stimulation in primary olfactory cortex (POC) are characterized by a rapidly habituating time course. We hypothesized that the different part of brain area would be activated when stimulating pleasant or unpleasant odors.
Methods:
Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) was used in an experiment comparing brain activation related to a pleasant (Citraval) and an unpleasant odor (Î2-mercaptometh-anol). The stimulation period was 10 seconds with 50 second interval. The total stimulation time was 50 seconds.
Results:
In normal group, the pleasant odor activated the area including the prefrontal cortex, anterior cingulum, and anterior insular cortex. The unpleasant odor activated the area including the prefrontal cortex and posterior cingulum. In the abnormal group, the brain activated area was scattered among 10 patients, and it was hard to categorize the activated brain areas in Z=4.59 (p<0.05).
Conclusions:
Olfactory stimulation with pleasant and unpleasant odor produces the activation of specific brain areas. The brain areas activated differed according to the specimen of odor and trauma. Further studies are needed to elucidate brain activation response according to the different kinds and intensities of olfactory stimulation.
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