1. Sensory and Immune
Systems in Mental Disorders
Tatyana Nevidimova
Mental Health Research Institute,
Tomsk, Russia
2. Introduction and Design
• Sensory perception is an important part of mental
health. Sensory and immunological abnormalities are
frequently observed in patients with depression and
addiction.
• Pica is one of the examples of sensory vulnerability.
Pica is an eating disorder relating to the consumption
of non-nutritive substances and changes of olfactory
and taste preferences.
• Olfaction, nociception and immunity in mental
disorders are the next steps of our research.
3. Purpose and Methods
• Purpose: to study interactions between
sensory vulnerability and immunological
abnormalities in addictive and affective
disorders.
• Object: about 800 patients with addictive
and affective disorders and controls were
studied.
• Methods:
1. Questionnaires, Zuckerman’s Sensation
Seeking Scale, Bem’s Gender Test,
Hamilton rating scale.
2. 40-item University of Pennsylvania Smell
Identification Test (UPSIT), Alcohol Sniff
Test (AST), androstenone test, taste test,
pressure-pain thresholds test, visual
analogous scale.
3. Parameters of immunity and iron
metabolism were studied by ELISA and
flow cytometry.
4. Statistics: Mann-Whitney, chi-square and
logistic regression.
4. Results
Pathological gustatory and olfactory sensations are
registered in childhood and adolescence more then in a
half of the cases. Craving for taste of chalk, for smell of
petrol and other chemicals is observed in patients.
5. Pica and addiction
• Pica occurs in patients with iron deficiency.
The biology of the syndrome is unknown.
• Could pica and changes of sensory perception
thresholds form a stereotype of addictive
behavior?
6. Features of addiction
are found often in 1,5
(p<0,05) times beside
teens having sensory
disorders.
Blue sectors indicate
frequency of teenagers
having addiction features
Adolescents having
sensory disorders – which
is pica – have higher risk
of having addiction
7. Pica and addiction
Addicts Control
Early pica No pica
Early pica was detected in heroin addicts more
often than in the controls (43% and 22%, p<0,05).
Dark sectors indicate pica
8. Sensory vulnerable persons with anamnestic pica have
higher level of ferritin and lower level of CD71
lymphocytes which correlates with the level of
interleukin-6.
Controls, no pica
Controls, pica
Addicts, no pica
Addicts, pica
CD71 ferritin IL-6
9. Our hypothesis was proven.
What's next?
• During the study of the pica we faced very
interesting phenomena. It is related to perception of
some special odors and pain sensitivity.
SMELLS:
• Smell of isopropyl alcohol is more attractive for
addicts and occasionally drug users.
• Smell of androstenone is more aversive for
adolescent drug users.
10. Perception of isopropyl alcohol smell
and drug craving
Y axe – aversion in analogous visual scale scores
1 – controls, 2 – occasional drug users, 3 - addicts
Addicts and
drug users are
much less likely
to be aversed
by isopropyl
alcohol smell
(it’s attractive)
11. Smell attractive and aversive effects in
addicts (dark bars) and controls
Лица с ППВ к ПАВЛица без ППВ к ПАВ
Отсутст
вие
употреб
ления
ПАВ
Эпизод
ическое
употреб
ление
ПАВПодростки-правонарушители с расстройствами, вызванным
22 1,5 Тестостерон23,45 24,64 14,77
28,5 17,5 Болевой порог15,81 16,77 15,06
47 39 Оценка андростенона15 0 47
2 42 Возраст 19,1 18,2 16,8
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
45
50
isopropanol aversion androstenone aversion testosterone
Addicts ControlsAndrostenone aversion correlates with low level of testosterone
in male addicts.
Is it way of non-invasive testosteron level estimating using smell test ?
12. Perception of the odor
of androstenone (aversive effect)
* *
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
controls addicts sexual
disorders
%
We found similar statistic in adolescents with sexual disorders.
It’s one of the biologic reasons of gender deviations in young addicts
13. Interleukine-6 and nociception
in male addicts
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%
IL 6, pg/ml Pain threshold,
score
Pain tolerancy,
score
Low masculinity Normal masculinity
So we focus on the variation in gender. Masculinity was estimated
by Bem’s test. Low masculinity was related with high production
of interleukin-6 and higher pain sensitivity in addicts.
14. Nociception and anti-norepinephrine
antibodies in occasionally drug users
• Our recent studies shows
that risk of occasional drug
usage is higher for
adolescents with changed
pain sensitivity and lower
level of antibodies to
norepinephrine
• Possibly it is related to
decreased production of
norepinephrine and reward
system deficiency
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%
Pain delta* Antibodies to
norepinephrine
control risk
*Pain delta =
(Pain tolerance score –
Pain threshold score)
15. Conclusion
• Pica is a risk factor that increases risk of addiction in
adolescents;
• Other risk factors are: decreased sensitivity to bitter
and salty taste stimuli, absence of aversion to
olfactory stimuli and the unusual pain sensitivity;
• The following factors increase the risk of developing
of craving for psychoactive substances: male sex,
need for sensory stimulation, the presence of
clinical signs of immune deficiency, a high level of
anxiety.
16. Recent results
• Low masculinity was related with high
production of interleukin-6 and pain
sensitivity deviations in addicts.
• Antibodies to norepinephrine are related to
nociception and risk of drug craving.
• Taste test values, alcohol sniff test values and
pain thresholds are related to the effects of
antidepressants.
17. Acknowledgement and Cooperation
RAMS
Mental Health Research Institute (Tomsk):
• Addictive disorders Department
• Affective disorders Department
Institute of Pathology and Pathophysiology (Moscow)
RAS
Institute of Atmospheric Optics (Tomsk)
Institute of Chemical Biology and Fundamental Medicine (Novosibirsk)
Healthcare
Narcology centers (Tomsk, Kemerovo)
Medical University (Tomsk)
