A Multisensory Deficit in the Perception of Pleasantness in Parkinson’s Disease

Article type: Research Article

Authors: Utz, Kathrin S.^a | Martini, Max^b | Mrochen, Anne^a | Lambrecht, Vera^b | Süß, Patrick^{a; b} | Renner, Bertold^{c; d} | Freiherr, Jessica^{f; g} | Schenk, Thomas^e | Winkler, Jürgen^b | Marxreiter, Franz^{b; *}

Affiliations: [a] Department of Neurology, University Hospital Erlangen, Friedrich-Alexander Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg, FAU, Erlangen, Germany | [b] Department of Molecular Neurology, University Hospital Erlangen, FAU, Erlangen, Germany | [c] Institute of Experimental and Clinical Pharmacology and Toxicology, FAU, Erlangen, Germany | [d] Institute of Clinical Pharmacology, Medical Faculty Carl Gustav Carus, Technische Universität Dresden, Dresden, Germany | [e] Clinical Neuropsychology, Department Psychology, Ludwig-Maximilians University Munich, Munich, Germany | [f] Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, FAU, Erlangen, Germany | [g] Sensory Analytics, Fraunhofer Institute for Process Engineering and Packaging IVV, Freising, Germany

Correspondence: [*] Correspondence to: Franz Marxreiter, MD, MSc, Department of Molecular Neurology, University Hospital Erlangen, Friedrich-Alexander Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg (FAU), Schwabachanlage 6, 91054 Erlangen, Germany. E-mail: franz.marxreiter@uk-erlangen.de.

Abstract: Background:There is growing interest in non-motor symptoms in Parkinson’s disease (PD), due to the impact on quality of life. Anhedonia, the inability to experience joy and lust, has a prevalence of up to 46% in PD. The perception of pleasantness of an odor is reduced in anhedonia without PD. We previously showed a reduced hedonic olfactory perception in PD, i.e., patients evaluated odors as less pleasant or unpleasant compared to controls. This deficit correlated with anhedonia. Objective:We aimed to confirm these findings. Moreover, we hypothesized that the perception of pleasantness in PD is affected on a multisensory level and correlates with anhedonia. Therefore, we assessed olfactory, visual and acoustic evaluation of pleasantness in PD and healthy individuals. Methods:Participants had to rate the pleasantness of 22 odors, pictures, and sounds on a nine-point Likert scale. Depression, anhedonia, and apathy were assessed by means of questionnaires. Results of the pleasantness-rating were compared between groups and correlated to scores of the questionnaires. Results:In particular pleasant and unpleasant stimuli across all three modalities are perceived less intense in PD, suggesting that a reduced range of perception of pleasantness is a multisensory phenomenon. However, only a reduction of visual hedonic perception correlated with anhedonia in PD. A correlation of reduced perception of pleasantness with apathy or depression was not present. Conclusion:We provide evidence for a multisensory deficit in the perception of pleasantness. Further studies should delineate the underlying neural circuity and the diagnostic value to detect neuropsychiatric symptoms in PD.

Keywords: Parkinson’s disease, anhedonia, hyposmia, non-motor symptoms, depression, apathy, Sniffin’ Sticks, affective pictures

DOI: 10.3233/JPD-212812

Journal: Journal of Parkinson's Disease, vol. 11, no. 4, pp. 2035-2045, 2021