Emotional and autonomic processing of olfactory stimuli is compromised in patients with a history of mild traumatic brain injury

Research output: Contribution to journalResearch articleContributedpeer-review

Contributors

  • Max J. Hilz - , Friedrich-Alexander University Erlangen-Nürnberg, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai (Author)
  • Ruihao Wang - , Friedrich-Alexander University Erlangen-Nürnberg (Author)
  • Mao Liu - , Friedrich-Alexander University Erlangen-Nürnberg (Author)
  • Dafin Muresanu - , Iuliu Hatieganu University of Medicine and Pharmacy, RoNeuro Institute for Neurological Research and Diagnostic (Author)
  • Steven Flanagan - , New York University (Author)
  • Klemens Winder - , Friedrich-Alexander University Erlangen-Nürnberg (Author)
  • Katharina Hösl - , Paracelsus Medical University Nuremberg (Author)
  • Thomas Hummel - , Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery, University Hospital Carl Gustav Carus Dresden, TUD Dresden University of Technology (Author)

Abstract

Patients with a history of mild traumatic brain injury (post-mTBI patients) may have enduring cardiovascular-autonomic dysregulation and emotional problems. Olfactory stimulation (OS) triggers emotional and cardiovascular-autonomic responses that might be compromised in post-mTBI patients. We therefore evaluated these responses to OS in post-mTBI patients. In 17 post-mTBI patients (interval since mTBI: 32.4 ± 6.8 months) and 17 age- and sex-matched controls, we recorded respiration, electrocardiographic RR intervals, and systolic and diastolic blood pressures (BPsys, BPdia) before and during pleasant vanilla stimulation and unpleasant hydrogen sulphide (H2S) stimulation. Participants rated OS-related pleasantness, arousal, intensity, and familiarity on 9-point Likert scales. Analyses of variance (ANOVAs) with post hoc analyses compared parameters within each group before and during OS. To assess associations between pleasantness, arousal, intensity, and familiarity, we correlated OS scores within groups (significance: p < 0.05). Baseline parameters were similar between groups. Only in controls, vanilla stimulation significantly lowered BPsys and BPdia, whereas H2S stimulation lowered RR intervals. Vanilla-related pleasantness scores were lower, intensity scores were higher in patients than controls. During vanilla stimulation, pleasantness scores correlated negatively with arousal scores in controls, whereas familiarity scores correlated positively with intensity scores in patients. During H2S stimulation, familiarity scores correlated negatively with pleasantness scores in controls, whereas pleasantness scores correlated negatively with arousal scores in mTBI patients. Post-mTBI patients could not change BP or RR intervals during OS but perceived vanilla stimuli as less pleasant and more intense than did controls. Associations between pleasantness, arousal, intensity, and familiarity differed between groups suggesting different activation of the olfactory network and the central autonomic network upon OS. Subtle lesions within these networks might cause persistent changes in emotional and cognitive odor perception and cardiovascular responses.

Details

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)125-138
Number of pages14
JournalJournal of neurotrauma
Volume37
Issue number1
Publication statusPublished - 1 Jan 2020
Peer-reviewedYes

External IDs

PubMed 31298614
ORCID /0000-0001-9713-0183/work/151982956

Keywords

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Keywords

  • central autonomic dysfunction, emotional processing, mild traumatic brain injury, olfactory network, pleasant and unpleasant olfactory stimulation