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Neuroanatomical Correlates of Perceiving the Intensity and Pleasantness of Intense Saltiness in Healthy Subjects


Affiliations
1 Oral and Maxillofacial Radiology, Applied Oral Sciences, Faculty of Dentistry, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China
 

Reducing excessive dietary salt is beneficial to human health. Various taste-related brain regions are activated upon taste reception. However, it is unknown if their structural volumes would also influence taste perception. This study aimed to examine if grey matter volume would correlate with intensity or pleasantness scores given by participants after tasting an intense salty taste solution. We recruited 34 healthy human adults. They tasted 2 ml of 0.5 M sodium chloride solution and underwent magnetic resonance imaging to record their brain structures. By voxelbased morphometry, the amygdala, thalamus, insula and orbitofrontal cortex were structurally correlated to tasting.

Keywords

Grey Matter Volume, Human Health, Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Salty Taste, Voxel-Based Morphometry.
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  • Neuroanatomical Correlates of Perceiving the Intensity and Pleasantness of Intense Saltiness in Healthy Subjects

Abstract Views: 334  |  PDF Views: 109

Authors

Andy Wai Kan Yeung
Oral and Maxillofacial Radiology, Applied Oral Sciences, Faculty of Dentistry, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China

Abstract


Reducing excessive dietary salt is beneficial to human health. Various taste-related brain regions are activated upon taste reception. However, it is unknown if their structural volumes would also influence taste perception. This study aimed to examine if grey matter volume would correlate with intensity or pleasantness scores given by participants after tasting an intense salty taste solution. We recruited 34 healthy human adults. They tasted 2 ml of 0.5 M sodium chloride solution and underwent magnetic resonance imaging to record their brain structures. By voxelbased morphometry, the amygdala, thalamus, insula and orbitofrontal cortex were structurally correlated to tasting.

Keywords


Grey Matter Volume, Human Health, Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Salty Taste, Voxel-Based Morphometry.

References





DOI: https://doi.org/10.18520/cs%2Fv116%2Fi1%2F69-74