Trigeminale Modulation der olfaktorischen Signalverarbeitung

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It has been known for many years that the two nasal chemosensory systems, the olfactory system and the trigeminal system, influence each other's sensory performance. Although well documented in numerous psychophysical studies, the cellular basis of this cross-modal interaction is not understood. Our project aims to elucidate the cellular mechanisms of this phenomenon in the two initial stages of the sense of smell, the olfactory epithelium and the olfactory bulb. Based on neuroanatomical, physiological, and psychophysical experimentation, we have identified three lines of evidence that point to an involvement of the trigeminal system in the formation of odour memory. (1) The trigeminal system specifically targets those structures in the olfactory epithelium and bulb that are involved in the processing of acquired olfactory information, as opposed to structures that mediate innate odour responses; (2) in rats, this innervation develops postnatally, indicating its focus on information processing in the mature animal; (3) in humans, the formation of odour memory is supported by costimulation of the nasal trigeminal system. These consistent sets of results indicate that olfactory performance is co-determined by the neuromodulatory impact of the trigeminal system onto the initial stages of information processing in olfactory eptihelium and olfactory bulb. Our project is designed to examine this concept on the celluar, systemic and cognitive levels of sensory processing.