Left temporo-limbic and orbital dysfunction in schizophrenia during odor familiarity and hedonicity judgments

Impairments of olfactory processing in patients with schizophrenia (SZ) have been reported in various olfactory tasks such as detection, discrimination, recognition memory, identification, and naming. The purpose of our study was to determine whether impairments in odor familiarity and hedonicity judgments observed in SZ patients during a previous behavioral study are associated with modifications of the activation patterns in olfactory areas. Twelve SZ patients, and 12 healthy comparison (HC) subjects, were tested using the H215O-PET technique and 48 different odorants delivered during 8 scans. In addition to an odorless baseline condition, they had either to detect odor, or to judge odor familiarity or hedonicity, giving their responses by pressing a button. Regional cerebral blood flows during olfactory conditions were compared with those for baseline condition. Between-group analyses were then performed, and completed by regions of interest analyses. Both groups had equivalent ability for the detection of suprathreshold odorants, but patients found odors less familiar, and pleasant odors less pleasant than HC subjects. These behavioral results were related to functional abnormalities in temporo-limbic and orbital olfactory regions lateralized in the left hemisphere: the posterior part of the piriform cortex and orbital regions for familiarity judgments, the insular gyrus for hedonicity judgments, and the left inferior frontal gyrus and anterior piriform cortex/putamen region for the three olfactory tasks. They mainly resulted from a lack of activation during task conditions in the SZ patients. These data could explain olfactory disturbances and other clinical features of schizophrenia such as anhedonia.