Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-4rdpn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-19T06:46:28.376Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Effect of Olfactory Stimulation in Agenesis of the Corpus Callosum: A Case Report

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 December 2014

Alessandro Tonacci ,
Anna Maria Chilosi ,
Giovanni Pioggia ,
Maria Aurora Morales  and
Giovanni Cioni
Alessandro Tonacci*
Affiliation:
Clinical Physiology Institute, National Research Council (IFC-CNR), Pisa, Italy
Anna Maria Chilosi
Affiliation:
Department of Developmental Neuroscience, IRCCS Stella Maris, Calambrone Pisa, Italy
Giovanni Pioggia
Affiliation:
Clinical Physiology Institute, National Research Council (IFC-CNR), Pisa, Italy
Maria Aurora Morales
Affiliation:
Clinical Physiology Institute, National Research Council (IFC-CNR), Pisa, Italy
Giovanni Cioni
Affiliation:
Department of Developmental Neuroscience, IRCCS Stella Maris, Calambrone Pisa, Italy Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, University of Pisa, Pisa, Italy
*
Address for correspondence: Dr. Alessandro Tonacci, Clinical Physiology Institute, National Research Council (IFC-CNR), Via Moruzzi, 1-56124 Pisa, Italy. E-mail: [email protected]
Get access

Abstract

Objective: To evaluate the olfactory and psychophysical performances in a 13-year-old boy with intellectual disability and severe hypoplasia of the corpus callosum and of the olfactory bulbs, compared to controls.

Methods: The Sniffin’ Sticks Identification Test was administered to the patient and to a patient control child with cognitive delay, with the same mental (5 years) and chronological age, but normal brain magnetic resonance image. Two typically developing control participants, aged 13 and 5, were also evaluated. Psychophysical tests were performed during the olfactory assessment by smart portable sensors.

Results: A significant decrease in olfactory function and a different psychophysical response to stimuli were observed in the patient compared to control participants, suggesting absence of ‘odorous stress’. A higher olfactory score but a similar psychophysical trend was found in the patient control with cognitive delay, while the two other control participants showed a selective increase of the anxiety state depending on the odour presented.

Conclusions: Olfactory dysfunction is reported in children with neurodevelopmental disabilities. Low-cost, portable devices to assess olfactory function are proposed for use with children with intellectual disability. Stress monitoring by unobtrusive platforms provides discriminant information in this subset, as compared to controls.

Keywords

olfactioncongenital anosmiaagenesis of the corpus callosumKallmann’s syndrome
Type
Articles
Information
Brain Impairment , Volume 15 , Issue 3 , December 2014 , pp. 216 - 222
Copyright
Copyright © Australasian Society for the Study of Brain Impairment 2014 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Avilov, O.V., & Sudakov, K.V. (2008). Effects of olfactory stimuli on students with different tones of the autonomic nervous system. Human Physiology, 34, 709–714.Google Scholar
Billeci, L., Brunori, E., Crifaci, G., Tartarisco, G., Scardigli, S., Pioggia, G., . . . Morales, M.A. (2012a). Skin conductance (SC) monitoring during relaxation in anorexia nervosa adolescents by wearable sensors combined with wireless technologies. International Journal of Psychophysiology, 85, 373–374.Google Scholar
Billeci, L., Pioggia, G., Brunori, E., Crifaci, G., Tartarisco, G., Balocchi, R., . . . Morales, M.A. (2012b). Wearable sensors combined with wireless technologies for the evaluation of heart rate and heart rate variability in anorexia nervosa adolescents. Neuropsychiatrie de l’Enfance et de l’Adolescence, 60, S157.Google Scholar
Cain, W.S., Gent, J.F., Goodspeed, R.B., & Leonard, G. (1988). Evaluation of olfactory dysfunction in the Connecticut Chemosensory Clinical Research Center (CCCRC). Laryngoscope, 98, 83–88.Google Scholar
Chaney, R.H. (1996). Psychological stress in people with profound mental retardation. Journal of Intellectual Disability Research, 40, 305–310.Google Scholar
Dalton, P., Doty, R.L., Murphy, C., Frank, R., Hoffmann, H.J., Maute, C., . . . Slotkin, J. (2013). Olfactory assessment using the NIH Toolbox. Neurology, 80, S32–S36.Google Scholar
Dudova, I., & Hrdlicka, M. (2013). Olfactory functions are not associated with autism severity in autism spectrum disorders. Journal of Neuropsychiatric Disease and Treatment, 9, 1847–1851.Google Scholar
Dudova, I., Vodicka, J., Havlovicova, M., Sedlacek, Z., Urbanek, T., & Hrdlicka, M. (2011). Odor detection threshold, but not odor identification, is impaired in children with autism. European Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, 20 (7), 333–340.Google Scholar
Engle, E.C. (2010). Human genetic disorders of axon guidance. Cold Spring Harbor Perspectives in Biology, 2, a001784.Google Scholar
Förster, S., Vaitl, A., Teipel, S.J., Yakushev, I., Mustafa, M., La Fougère, C., . . . Steinbach, S. (2010). Functional representation of olfactory impairment in early Alzheimer's disease. Journal of Alzheimer's Disease, 22 (2), 581–591.Google Scholar
Ghanizadeh, A., Bahrani, M., Miri, R., & Sahraian, A. (2012). Smell identification function in children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. Psychiatry Investigation, 9 (2), 150–153.Google Scholar
Hanna, R.M., Marsh, S.E., Swistun, D., Al-Gazali, L., Zaki, M.S., Abdel-Salam, G.M., . . . Gleeson, J.G. (2011). Distinguishing 3 classes of corpus callosal abnormalities in consanguineous families. Neurology, 76 (4), 373–382.Google Scholar
Hummel, T., Fliessbach, K., Abele, M., Okulla, T., Reden, J., Reichmann, H., . . . Haehner, A. (2010). Olfactory FMRI in patients with Parkinson's disease. Frontiers in Integrative Neuroscience, 4, 125.Google Scholar
Hummel, T., Kobal, G., Gudziol, H., & Mackay-Sim, A. (2007). Normative data for the ‘Sniffin’ Sticks’ including tests of odor identification, odor discrimination, and olfactory thresholds: an upgrade based on a group of more than 3,000 subjects. European Archives of Otorhinolaryngology, 264, 237–243.Google Scholar
Hummel, T., Sekinger, B., Wolf, S., Pauli, E., & Kobal, G. (1997). ‘Sniffin’ Sticks’: olfactory performance assessed by the combined testing of odor identification, odor discrimination and olfactory threshold. Chemical Senses, 22, 39–52.Google Scholar
Imai, T., Suzuki, M., & Sakano, H. (2006). Odorant receptor derived cAMP signals direct axonal targeting. Science, 314, 657–661.Google Scholar
Kamnasaran, D. (2005). Agenesis of the corpus callosum: Lessons from humans and mice. Clinical and Investigative Medicine, 28, 267–282.Google Scholar
Kobal, G., Hummel, T., Sekinger, B., Barz, S., Roscher, S., & Wolf, S. (1996). ‘Sniffin’ Sticks’: screening of olfactory performance. Rhinology, 34, 222–226.Google Scholar
Legiša, J., Messinger, D.S., Kermol, E., & Marlier, L. (2013). Emotional responses to odors in children with high-functioning autism: autonomic arousal, facial behavior and self-report. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 43 (4), 869–879.Google Scholar
Paul, L.K., Brown, W.S., Adolphs, R., Tyszka, J.M, Richards, L.J., Mukherjee, P., . . . Sherr, E.H. (2007). Agenesis of the corpus callosum: Genetic, developmental and functional aspects of connectivity. Nature Reviews Neuroscience, 8, 287–299.Google Scholar
Sandberg, S., Paton, J.Y., Ahola, S., McCann, D.C., McGuinness, D, Hillary, C.R., . . . Oja, H. (2000). The role of acute and chronic stress in asthma attacks in children. Lancet, 356 (9234), 982–987.Google Scholar
Schecklmann, M., Pfannstiel, C., Fallgatter, A.J., Warnke, A., Gerlach, M., & Romanos, M. (2012). Olfaction in child and adolescent anorexia nervosa. Journal of Neural Transmission, 119 (6), 721–728.Google Scholar
Schecklmann, M., Schwenck, C., Taurines, R., Freitag, C., Warnke, A., Gerlach, M., . . . Romanos, M. (2013). A systematic review on olfaction in child and adolescent psychiatric disorders. Journal of Neural Transmission, 120, 121–130.Google Scholar
Seminara, S.B., Hayes, F.J., & Crowley, W.F. Jr. (1998). Gonadotropin-releasing hormone deficiency in the human (idiopathic hypogonadotropic hypogonadism and Kallmann's syndrome): Pathophysiological and genetic considerations. Endocrine Reviews, 19 (5), 521–539.Google Scholar
Tonacci, A., Baldus, G., Corda, D., Piccaluga, E., Andreassi, M.G., Cremonesi, A., . . . Picano, E. (2014). Olfactory non-cancer effects of exposure to ionizing radiation in staff working in the cardiac catheterization laboratory. International Journal of Cardiology, 171, 461–463.Google Scholar
Tonacci, A., Borghini, A., Mercuri, A., Pioggia, G., & Andreassi, M.G. (2013). Brain-derived neurotrophic factor (Val66Met) polymorphism and olfactory ability in young adults. Journal of Biomedical Science, 20, 57.Google Scholar
Wilson, D.A., Xu, W., Sadrian, B., Courtiol, E., Cohen, Y., & Barnes, D.C. (2014). Cortical odor processing in health and disease. Progress in Brain Research, 208, 275–305.Google Scholar