Event-Related Olfactory fMRI

Xiaoyu Sun¹, Christopher W. Weitekamp¹, Jianli Wang¹, Jeffrey Vesek¹, Qing X. Yang^1,2

In recent olfactory fMRI studies, the subjects were trained to follow instructions for respiration or sniffing to synchronize the odor stimulation. Such methods will fail in studying patients that are not able to follow the instructions. Here we present an event-related paradigm design and post-processing tools for olfactory fMRI without requirement to control the subjects respiration or sniffing. Our data showed that the subjects respiratory modulation of the olfactory stimulation paradigm significantly confounded the BOLD signal. The presented event-related design and corresponding data processing method are simple and effective for generating olfactory fMRI results with minimal confounding variability.