In contrast to the understanding of the visual and auditory functions, the understanding of the olfactory function in the human brain is less advanced. Because the regions involved in olfaction are prone to signal losses due to strong magnetic field inhomogeneity in the susceptibility boundary between air in the paranasal sinuses and brain tissues, a study of olfaction using functional MRI (fMRI) is challenging, especially at ultra-high magnetic field strength (UHF). In this study, we investigated the role of olfactory fMRI with high spatial resolution at 7T involving the ventral brain area. We found that the brain activations are reproducible within and between subjects. These results suggested that fMRI with high spatial resolution at UHF has the potential for use in olfaction studies, also involving the ventral brain regions.
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