Taste dysfunction in multiple sclerosis

Abstract

Empirical studies of taste function in multiple sclerosis (MS) are rare. Moreover, a detailed assessment of whether quantitative measures of taste function correlate with the punctate and patchy myelin-related lesions found throughout the CNS of MS patients has not been made. We administered a 96-trial test of sweet (sucrose), sour (citric acid), bitter (caffeine) and salty (NaCl) taste perception to the left and right anterior (CN VII) and posterior (CN IX) tongue regions of 73 MS patients and 73 matched controls. The number and volume of lesions were assessed using quantitative MRI in 52 brain regions of 63 of the MS patients. Taste identification scores were significantly lower in the MS patients for sucrose (p=.0002), citric acid (p=.0001), caffeine (p=.0372) and NaCl (p=.0004) and were present in both anterior and posterior tongue regions. The percent of MS patients with identification scores falling below the 5th percentile of controls was 15.07% for caffeine, 21.9% for citric acid, 24.66% for sucrose, and 31.50% for NaCl. Such scores were inversely correlated with lesion volumes in the temporal, medial frontal, and superior frontal lobes, and with the number of lesions in the left and right superior frontal lobes, right anterior cingulate gyrus, and left parietal operculum. Regardless of the subject group, women outperformed men on the taste measures. These findings indicate that a sizable number of MS patients exhibit taste deficits that are associated with MS-related lesions throughout the brain.

Otolaryngologic Symptoms in Multiple Sclerosis: A Review

“…Clinical evaluation of taste alterations can be done using electrogustometry, chemogustometry and self-administered questionnaires 87 . Electrogustometry may be very useful for diagnosis and monitoring of MS; Sarmiento et al showed that patients with MS presented increased threshold and difficulties to identify tastants for all four classic taste qualities on both anterior (VII) and posterior regions of the tongue (IX) 88 and that such difficulties increased with the progression of MS.…”

Altered neural signatures of interoception in multiple sclerosis

“…Patients with multiple sclerosis (MS) present alterations related to the sensing of physiological bodily signals (Rocca et al, 2015), including subclinical deficits in olfaction (Silva et al, 2012) and taste (Doty et al, 2016), and clinical symptoms such as abnormal temperature processing (Davis, Wilson, White, & Frohman, 2010), chronic pain (Michalski, Liebig, Thomae, Hinz, & Bergh, 2011), and fatigue (Krupp, 2006).…”

Unilateral olfactory sensitivity in multiple sclerosis

“…The olfactory tests were the first, and the MRI imaging scans the last, of the procedures administered on a test day. Findings from non-olfactory components of this program have been published, or are being published, elsewhere (e.g., [5, 35]). In rare cases, the test sessions were distributed across two days, depending upon a subject’s availability, health, and tolerance for the testing procedures.…”

“…Correlations between the test scores and disease duration were assessed after parceling out the effects of age. Similarly, correlations were computed between olfactory test scores and the number and volumes of lesions within brain structures with adequate numbers of lesions, as described in detail elsewhere [5, 35]. In the case of lesion volumes, corrections for whole brain volumes were made.…”

“…This disorder afflicts millions of people worldwide [1] and is known to alter the function of a number of sensory systems [2–5]. However, the influence of MS on the ability to smell has been a subject of controversy for at least two reasons.…”