Synaptic Organization in a Simple Olfactory System

昆虫的一个重要感觉器官是鞭毛 包含了数千个被称为 感器已被分为类型，包括一些 专门负责化学感受功能。 神经从 鞭毛含有许多神经纤维或轴突， 当它们进入大脑并终止于 一种叫做肾小球的特殊结构。 每个肾小球都是一个 神经细胞在其中发挥功能的球状复合体 称为突触的接触，在那里相互作用发生在 传入和传出信息，由局部神经调制 细胞 昆虫的球状结构有几个 与脊椎动物肾小球相似 嗅球，据信这种结构形成了一个 突触相互作用的信息处理模块。 这项工作将集中在如何嗅觉信息映射 为了观察昆虫的嗅觉感受器 在不同的肾小球中， 功能调谐，它们的触角位置，或两者。 光 显微镜和电子显微镜将用于澄清 神经元之间连接的基础结构， 提供输入和输出，以及收敛和局部 处理嗅觉信息的电路。 昆虫系统 提供了一个有利的模式，因为它是可能的， 唯一可识别的单个神经元。 结果 从这项工作将是有价值的了解信息 一般的处理，化学感觉神经科学， 脊椎动物和无脊椎动物，对昆虫的研究， 神经发育过程中的模型系统 神经连接，以及与农业相关的研究， 具有化学感受性的昆虫摄食或繁殖 件.

An important sensory appendage for insects is the flagellum of the antenna, containing thousands of receptors called sensilla that have been classified into types, including some specialized for chemosensory functions. The nerve from the flagellum contains many nerve fibers, or axons, which form particular groupings when they enter the brain and terminate in distinctive structures called glomeruli. Each glomerulus is a sphere-like complex in which nerve cells make functional contacts called synapses, where interactions occur between incoming and outgoing information, modulated by local nerve cells. The glomerular structure in insects has several similarities to the glomerulus also found in the vertebrate olfactory bulb, and it is believed that this structure forms an information processing module for synaptic interactions. This work will focus on how olfactory information is mapped in the glomeruli, to see whether in insects olfactory receptors are represented in different glomeruli according to their functional tuning, their antennal location, or both. Light microscopy and electron microscopy will be used to clarify the architecture underlying the connections between neurons that provide input and output, and the convergence and local circuits that process olfactory information. The insect system offers an advantageous model because it is possible find uniquely identifiable single neurons in the brain. Results from this work will be valuable to understanding information processing in general, to chemosensory neuroscience in the vertebrates as well as invertebrates, to studies on insects as model systems during neural development of highly specific neural connections, and to agriculturally related studies of insect feeding or reproduction which have chemosensory components.