Neurological/Psychiatric Disorders
The multi-sensory nature of the olfactory tubercle and the many innervations it receives from other brain regions, especially the direct input from the olfactory bulb and innervations from the ventral tegmental area, makes it likely to be involved in several psychiatric disorders in which olfaction and dopamine receptors are affected. Many studies have found reduced olfactory sensitivity in patients with major depressive disorders (MDD) and dementia and schizophrenia. Patients with MDD have been shown to have reduced olfactory bulb and olfactory cortex (Negoias et al. 2010) as compared to normal people. In dementias, especially of the Alzheimer’s type, the olfactory bulb, anterior olfactory nucleus and orbitofrontal cortex, all areas that of the brain that process olfaction, are affected. The deficits observed in dementia include decrease in odor threshold sensitivity (Bacon et al. 1998; Nordin & Murphy 1996), odor identification (Doty et al. 1991) and odor memory (Murphy, Nordin & Jinich 1999). Patients with schizophrenia exhibit deficits in olfactory discrimination that are not seen in patients with other psychiatric disorders not mentioned here. Rupp et al. (2005), found that in patients with schizophrenia olfactory sensitivity and discrimination as well as higher order identification abilities are reduced. As mentioned earlier the olfactory tubercle may be involved in the perception of odors due to the inputs received from the bulb and thus, by extension, may play a role in these psychiatric disorders.
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