Nakaimuki Asami, Paska Bernadett, Cuaya Laura V, Hernández-Pérez Raúl, Czeibert Kalman, Szabó Dóra, Kubinyi Eniko, Andics Attila
Department of Ethology, Institute of Biology, Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest, Hungary.
Doctoral School of Biology, Faculty of Science, Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest, Hungary.
Sci Rep. 2025 Apr 15;15(1):11438. doi: 10.1038/s41598-025-95123-6.
Humans have long applied canine olfaction in various contexts. Dog olfactory brain networks have recently been mapped by anatomical measures, but functional connections remain unexplored. Also, whereas individual characteristics, including age, sex, and brain shape, are known to affect olfactory performance, their covariation with olfactory functional networks is unknown. To address these, we investigated dogs' resting-state functional connectivities between anatomically defined olfactory regions and assessed whether and how their olfactory functional network is affected by age, sex, and brain shape. Olfactory functional connectivity strength exhibited negative correlations with both age and brain shape: older dogs and those with rounder-shaped brains demonstrated lower functional connectivity, respectively, but no effect of sex was found. The results suggest that both aging and brain morphology can negatively impact a dog's sense of smell, and older dogs and dogs with rounder-shaped brains may have diminished olfactory performance.
长期以来，人类一直在各种情境中应用犬类嗅觉。最近通过解剖学方法绘制了犬类嗅觉脑网络，但功能连接仍未得到探索。此外，虽然已知包括年龄、性别和脑形状在内的个体特征会影响嗅觉表现，但其与嗅觉功能网络的协变关系尚不清楚。为了解决这些问题，我们研究了犬类在解剖学定义的嗅觉区域之间的静息态功能连接，并评估了其嗅觉功能网络是否以及如何受到年龄、性别和脑形状的影响。嗅觉功能连接强度与年龄和脑形状均呈负相关：年龄较大的犬类和脑形状较圆的犬类分别表现出较低的功能连接，但未发现性别有影响。结果表明，衰老和脑形态都可能对犬类的嗅觉产生负面影响，年龄较大的犬类和脑形状较圆的犬类嗅觉表现可能会减弱。
