Mechanisms of transduction system in the olfactory cilia

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Molecular diffusion in solutions is known to occur in the general neurons and cells. However, olfactory receptor cells have cilia, which having a nano-scale structure. In fact, olfactory transduction cascade exists within the cilia locally, it is important to know the spatial distribution and temporal kinetics of the transduction elements (cAMP and Ca2+) in the transduction cascade within the cilia in real-time. However, there were technical difficulties using nano-scale cilia. In the previous report, we overcame such technical limitation using patch clamp, nano-scale ROI, and fluorescent imaging (Fluo3 or 4) simultaneously. These results indicated that olfactory response was linear-summation at local in the cilia, which was caused by the existence of the diffusion limitation in the cilia. The olfactory masking showed presumably representing the integration of the substance into the hydrophobic site of the membrane.