Hummel C, Frasnelli J, Gerber J, Hummel T
Smell & Taste Clinic, Department of Otorhinolaryngology, University of Dresden Medical School, Fetscherstr. 74, 01307 Dresden, Germany.
Behav Brain Res. 2007 Dec 11;185(1):59-64. doi: 10.1016/j.bbr.2007.07.019. Epub 2007 Jul 20.
Aim was to investigate differences in the central-nervous processing of gustatory stimuli between normogeusic subjects and patients with taste disorders. Twelve subjects with normal gustatory function and eight patients suffering from hypo- to ageusia underwent one fMRI run each in a 1.5 T scanner where they received liquid gustatory stimuli. fMRI analyses were performed by means of SPM2. Across all participants clusters of activated voxels were mainly found in orbitofrontal and insular regions of interest. Even those patients who did not perceive any stimuli showed some activation of gustatory centers. Group comparisons revealed higher activation of the insular and orbitofrontal cortices in patients compared to the group of healthy subjects. While further studies are needed, this finding may be interpreted in terms of enhanced neuronal recruitment due to functional impairment in patients with gustatory loss. It may ultimately prove useful in terms of the prognostic evaluation of individual patients.
目的是研究味觉功能正常的受试者与味觉障碍患者之间味觉刺激的中枢神经处理差异。12名味觉功能正常的受试者和8名患有轻度至味觉缺失的患者在1.5T扫描仪中各自进行了一次功能磁共振成像（fMRI）扫描，期间他们接受了液体味觉刺激。使用SPM2进行fMRI分析。在所有参与者中，激活体素的簇主要出现在感兴趣的眶额和脑岛区域。即使是那些没有感知到任何刺激的患者，其味觉中枢也有一些激活。组间比较显示，与健康受试者组相比，患者的脑岛和眶额皮质激活程度更高。虽然还需要进一步研究，但这一发现可以解释为味觉丧失患者由于功能受损而增强了神经元募集。这最终可能对个体患者的预后评估有用。
