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Insula and Olfaction: A Literature Review and Case Report

(1) Background: It is well established that the insula is involved in olfaction, though its specific role in olfactory processing remains uncertain. In this paper, we first review the current literature on the insula and olfaction. Then, we describe the case of a 56-year-old man with a left insular...

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Autores principales: Roy-Côté, Frédérique, Zahal, Rayane, Frasnelli, Johannes, Nguyen, Dang Khoa, Boucher, Olivier
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7914678/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33562799
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/brainsci11020198
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author Roy-Côté, Frédérique
Zahal, Rayane
Frasnelli, Johannes
Nguyen, Dang Khoa
Boucher, Olivier
author_facet Roy-Côté, Frédérique
Zahal, Rayane
Frasnelli, Johannes
Nguyen, Dang Khoa
Boucher, Olivier
author_sort Roy-Côté, Frédérique
collection PubMed
description (1) Background: It is well established that the insula is involved in olfaction, though its specific role in olfactory processing remains uncertain. In this paper, we first review the current literature on the insula and olfaction. Then, we describe the case of a 56-year-old man with a left insular cavernoma that caused olfactory disturbances. (2) Results: Structural neuroimaging studies suggest that insular gray matter volume is related to olfactory function, and functional neuroimaging shows that various types of stimuli lead to either lateralized or bilateral insular activations. Studies using electro-cortical stimulation reveal a specific region of the insular cortex, around the central insular sulcus, that could be related to unpleasant odor processing. Previous cases of insular lesions leading to olfactory disturbances suggest that left-sided insular lesions may more frequently lead to olfactory changes. In our patient with a left insular cavernoma, odors that were previously perceived as pleasant started smelling unpleasant and were hard to distinguish. Despite these subjective complaints, olfactory function assessed with the Sniffin’ Sticks test was normal. (3) Conclusions: Current tests may not be sensitive to all types of olfactory impairments associated with insular damage, and further studies should be conducted to develop olfactory tests assessing the hedonic appreciation of odors.
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spelling pubmed-79146782021-03-01 Insula and Olfaction: A Literature Review and Case Report Roy-Côté, Frédérique Zahal, Rayane Frasnelli, Johannes Nguyen, Dang Khoa Boucher, Olivier Brain Sci Case Report (1) Background: It is well established that the insula is involved in olfaction, though its specific role in olfactory processing remains uncertain. In this paper, we first review the current literature on the insula and olfaction. Then, we describe the case of a 56-year-old man with a left insular cavernoma that caused olfactory disturbances. (2) Results: Structural neuroimaging studies suggest that insular gray matter volume is related to olfactory function, and functional neuroimaging shows that various types of stimuli lead to either lateralized or bilateral insular activations. Studies using electro-cortical stimulation reveal a specific region of the insular cortex, around the central insular sulcus, that could be related to unpleasant odor processing. Previous cases of insular lesions leading to olfactory disturbances suggest that left-sided insular lesions may more frequently lead to olfactory changes. In our patient with a left insular cavernoma, odors that were previously perceived as pleasant started smelling unpleasant and were hard to distinguish. Despite these subjective complaints, olfactory function assessed with the Sniffin’ Sticks test was normal. (3) Conclusions: Current tests may not be sensitive to all types of olfactory impairments associated with insular damage, and further studies should be conducted to develop olfactory tests assessing the hedonic appreciation of odors. MDPI 2021-02-05 /pmc/articles/PMC7914678/ /pubmed/33562799 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/brainsci11020198 Text en © 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Case Report
Roy-Côté, Frédérique
Zahal, Rayane
Frasnelli, Johannes
Nguyen, Dang Khoa
Boucher, Olivier
Insula and Olfaction: A Literature Review and Case Report
title Insula and Olfaction: A Literature Review and Case Report
title_full Insula and Olfaction: A Literature Review and Case Report
title_fullStr Insula and Olfaction: A Literature Review and Case Report
title_full_unstemmed Insula and Olfaction: A Literature Review and Case Report
title_short Insula and Olfaction: A Literature Review and Case Report
title_sort insula and olfaction: a literature review and case report
topic Case Report
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7914678/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33562799
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/brainsci11020198
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