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Brain structural imaging correlates of olfactory dysfunction in obsessive–compulsive disorder

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Abstract

Olfactory dysfunction has been described in obsessive–compulsive disorder (OCD). Brain regions involved in smell processing partially overlap with structures included in the neurobiological models of OCD, although no previous studies have analyzed the neuroanatomical correlates of olfactory dysfunction in this disorder. The aim of our study was to examine the association between regional gray matter volume, as assessed by a voxel-based morphometry analysis of magnetic resonance images (MRI), and olfactory function, as assessed by the Sniffin’ Sticks test (SST). Olfactory function was assessed in 19 OCD patients and 19 healthy volunteers. All participants were also scanned in a 1.5-T magnet to obtain T1-weighted anatomical MRIs, which were pre-processed and analyzed with SPM8. Three different correlation models were used to study the association between regional gray matter volumes and olfactory function in the domains assessed by the SST: detection threshold, discrimination, and identification. OCD patients showed a significant impairment in all the domains assessed by the SST. Voxel-based mapping revealed a positive association in healthy controls between detection threshold and the gray matter content of a left anterior cingulate cortex cluster. In OCD patients, a positive correlation was observed between identification errors and the gray matter volume of the left medial orbital gyrus. In a post hoc analysis, these two gray matter regions were shown to be enlarged in OCD patients. Our findings support the idea that olfactory dysfunction in OCD is associated with volumetric changes in brain areas typically implicated in the neurobiology of the disorder.

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Acknowledgments

This study was supported in part by the Carlos III Health Institute (PI09/01331 PI10/01753, PI10/01003, CP10/00604, CIBER-CB06/03/0034) and by the Agencia de Gestió d’Ajuts Universitaris i de Recerca (AGAUR; 2009SGR1554). Dr. Soriano-Mas is funded by a “Miguel Servet” contract from the Carlos III Health Institute (CP10/00604). Eva Real is supported by a “Río Hortega” contract from the Carlos III Health Institute (I.D. CM11/00077). Marta Subirà is funded by a pre-doctoral grant from the Bellvitge Biomedical Research Institute (IDIBELL). Clara López is supported by a pre-doctoral grant from the Ministry of Education, Culture and Sport (FPU12/01636). Dr. Harrison is supported by a National Health and Medical Research Council of Australia (NHMRC) Clinical Career Development Award (I.D. 628509). We thank Gerald Fannon for revising the manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. OCD Clinical and Research Unit, Department of Psychiatry, Hospital de Bellvitge, Bellvitge University Hospital, c/Feixa Llarga s/n, Hospitalet de Llobregat, 08907, Barcelona, Spain

    Cinto Segalàs, Pino Alonso, Eva Real, Clara López-Solà & José M. Menchón

  2. Neuroscience Group, Bellvitge Biomedical Research Institute-IDIBELL, Barcelona, Spain

    Cinto Segalàs, Pino Alonso, Arantxa Orbegozo, Eva Real, Marta Subirà, Clara López-Solà, Ignacio Martínez-Zalacaín, José M. Menchón, Narcís Cardoner & Carles Soriano-Mas

  3. Carlos III Health Institute, Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red de Salud Mental (CIBERSAM), Barcelona, Spain

    Cinto Segalàs, Pino Alonso, Eva Real, Clara López-Solà, José M. Menchón, Narcís Cardoner & Carles Soriano-Mas

  4. Department of Clinical Sciences, Bellvitge Campus, University of Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain

    Pino Alonso, Clara López-Solà, José M. Menchón & Narcís Cardoner

  5. Hospital Psiquiàtric Universitari Institut Pere Mata, IISPV Universitat Rovira I Virgili, Reus, Spain

    Javier Labad

  6. Department of Psychiatry, Melbourne Neuropsychiatry Centre, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia

    Ben J. Harrison

  7. Magnetic Resonance Unit, CRC-Hospital del Mar, Barcelona, Spain

    Jesús Pujol

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  1. Cinto Segalàs
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  2. Pino Alonso
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  3. Arantxa Orbegozo
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  4. Eva Real
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  6. Clara López-Solà
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  7. Ignacio Martínez-Zalacaín
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  8. Javier Labad
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  9. Ben J. Harrison
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  10. Jesús Pujol
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  13. Carles Soriano-Mas
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Correspondence to Cinto Segalàs.

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Segalàs, C., Alonso, P., Orbegozo, A. et al. Brain structural imaging correlates of olfactory dysfunction in obsessive–compulsive disorder. Eur Arch Psychiatry Clin Neurosci 264, 225–233 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00406-013-0439-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00406-013-0439-7

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