Structural Plasticity of the Primary and Secondary Olfactory cortices: Increased Gray Matter Volume Following Surgical Treatment for Chronic Rhinosinusitis

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Contributors

Abstract

Functional plasticity of the adult brain is well established. Recently, the structural counterpart to such plasticity has been suggested by neuroimaging studies showing experience-dependent differences in gray matter (GM) volumes. Within the primary and secondary olfactory cortices, reduced GM volumes have been demonstrated in patients with olfactory loss. However, these cross-sectional studies do not provide causal evidence for GM volume change, and thereby structural plasticity. Disorders of the peripheral olfactory system, such as chronic rhinosinusitis (CRS), provide an ideal model to study GM structural plasticity, given that patients may experience long periods of olfactory impairment, followed by near complete recovery with treatment. We therefore performed a prospective longitudinal study in patients undergoing surgical treatment for CRS. We used voxel-based morphometry (VBM) to investigate GM volume change in 12 patients (M:F = 7:5; 47.2 ± 14.9 years), 3 months post-op. There was a significant improvement in olfactory function according to birhinal psychophysical testing. We performed a voxel-wise region of interest analysis, with significance corrected for number of regions (p < 0.0036 corr ). We found significantly increased post-operative GM volumes within the primary (left piriform cortex, right amygdala) and secondary (right orbitofrontal cortex, caudate nucleus, hippocampal–parahippocampal complex and bilateral temporal poles) olfactory networks, and decreased GM volumes within the secondary network only (left caudate nucleus and temporal pole, bilateral hippocampal–parahippocampal complex). As a control measure, we assessed GM change within V1, S1 and A1, where there were no suprathreshold voxels. To our knowledge, this is the first study to demonstrate GM structural plasticity within the primary and secondary olfactory cortices, following restoration of olfaction.

Details

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)22-34
Number of pages13
JournalNeuroscience
Volume395
Publication statusPublished - 15 Dec 2018
Peer-reviewedYes

External IDs

PubMed 30326289
ORCID /0000-0001-9713-0183/work/151982923

Keywords

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Keywords

  • chronic rhinosinusitis, functional endoscopic sinus surgery, gray matter volume, olfaction, structural plasticity