Associations of Gray Matter Volume and Perceived Intensity of Bitter Taste: a Voxel-Based Morphometry Study
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Associations of Gray Matter Volume and Perceived Intensity of Bitter Taste: a Voxel-Based Morphometry Study Andy Wai Kan Yeung 1 Received: 16 April 2019 / Accepted: 25 September 2019 # Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature 2019
Abstract Introduction Two recent brain morphological studies reported inconsistent results on the neuroanatomical correlates of taste intensity rating among healthy populations. The current study re-visited this issue with a large and more homogeneous sample size. It was hypothesized that the orbitofrontal cortex, the sole region commonly reported by the two studies together with olfactory studies, had its gray matter volume (GMV) correlated to taste intensity rating. Methods The open data from the Human Connectome Project (HCP, S1200 release dataset) was used. Data from 213 subjects were analyzed. They were aged 22–25, completed 3-Tesla structural brain scan, and were asked to taste a bitter solution (0.001 M quinine) and rate the perceived intensity with a general Labelled Magnitude Scale. The age-adjusted taste intensity rating was used for the current analysis. Voxel-based morphometry (VBM) using CAT12 toolbox implemented in SPM12 was conducted with the default procedures and settings. Whole brain analysis was performed at a threshold of cluster p < 0.05, familywise error corrected (FWE), with a primary cluster-forming threshold of uncorrected voxel p < 0.001. Results Voxel-wise GMV was significantly correlated to taste intensity rating in the right angular gyrus. OFC was insignificant even with a more liberal threshold of uncorrected voxel p < 0.001. Conclusions The current results were again different from previously published reports. This might be due to heterogeneous population, data processing, and analytical methods. Implications At the current stage, the morphometric finding from brain imaging is not yet a simple and reliable biomarker for assessing taste intensity perception. Keywords Taste . Bitter . Brain structure . Gustation . VBM
Introduction Functional neuroimaging studies have demonstrated that numerous areas in the human brain activate in response to taste intensity processing in healthy subjects (Cerf-Ducastel et al. 2012; Small et al. 2003; Spetter et al. 2010). The literature already contains many functional neuroimaging studies (Yeung 2018a), several meta-analyses (Huerta et al. 2014; Veldhuizen et al. 2011; Yeung 2018b; Yeung et al. 2017, 2018) and a meta-evaluation (Yeung et al. 2019). However, the neuroanatomical correlates of taste intensity processing in healthy subjects are not currently well-understood. To the author’s knowledge, only two published papers have investigated
* Andy Wai Kan Yeung [email protected] 1
Oral and Maxillofacial Radiology, Applied Oral Sciences and Community Dental Care, Faculty of Dentistry, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China
this issue. The first study had a sample of 34 young Asian adults (mean age = 21.3 years, SD = 2.4) and found that the perceived salty taste intensity was positively correlated
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