MECHANISMS OF OLFACTORY COMMUNICATION

特殊的气味腺和其他生物来源的气味是广泛的 动物王国里最大的动物 来自这些来源的嗅觉刺激被处理 通过几个感官系统，并引发一系列高度特定的行为， 和神经内分泌反应。 一个特定的 行为顺序可能取决于不同的个体化合物， 混合在一个单一的混合天然气味。 几种不同 传入输入（即主要和辅助嗅觉系统）可以 在检测和辨别复杂的天然气味中合作。 事实上，嗅觉系统的信号特征之一是它能够 检测和处理的定量和定性方面， 简单和复杂的自然刺激， 是生产出来的。 负责这些的神经机制 辨别能力，尤其是那些参与 对不同气味品质的分辨知之甚少。 而且 似乎系统的辨别能力和 作为这些能力基础的神经基质并不是固定的， 终生都可以改变 我们假设周围的嗅觉 在正常或损伤诱导的发育过程中存在的环境， 嗅觉受体神经元改变了它对 随后的气味刺激及其突触的模式和程度 与嗅球中的二级神经元的相互作用。 我们计划 继续我们对哺乳动物嗅觉交流的研究， 慢性气味暴露和受体神经元更新在调节 老鼠的气味辨别能力 我们认为， 以可预测的方式可靠地改变质量区分也将 在嗅觉系统的那些区域产生改变， 参与气味质量的鉴别。 一旦本地化， 将评估这些区域中产生的神经改变， 解开负责质量歧视的神经机制。 在 除了其公认的使复杂的嗅觉 区别，小鼠模型增加了一系列遗传变异的可能性。 操作和正常动物内差异的减少。 一系列 不同的净化气味化合物，包括行为相关的 信息素的成分将被用作一系列综合刺激物， 嗅觉系统的解剖学和行为学研究 长期目标是揭示化学信号如何最终引起自然 行为。 将特别强调两者所发挥的作用 早期和晚期的嗅觉经验，在塑造传入系统和 与信息素的编码和加工相关的机制， 非信息素刺激。 与我们先前的提案一样， 仍然是一个广泛的计划，我们最终希望获得 每种气味刺激物的完整规格，各种气味刺激物的性质， 受体，它们的中枢通路，以及化学物质引起的行为 信号.

Specific scent glands and other biological sources of odor are widespread in the animal kingdom. Olfactory stimuli from these sources are processed by several sensory systems and elicit a range of highly specific behavioral and neuroendocrine responses. Individual components of a particular behavioral sequence may depend upon different individual compounds or blends within a single melange of natural odors. Several different afferent inputs (i.e. the main and accessory olfactory systems) may cooperate in the detection and discrimination of a complex natural odor. In fact, one of the signal features of the olfactory system is its ability to detect and process both the quantitative and qualitative aspects of simple and complex natural stimuli so that appropriate behavioral responses are produced. The neural mechanisms which are responsible for these discriminative abilities, especially those which participate in the resolution of different odor qualities are poorly understood. Moreover, it appears that both the discriminative capabilities of the system and the neural substrates which underlie these abilities are not fixed but remain modifiable throughout life. We assume that the ambient olfactory environment present during the normal, or injury induced, development of an olfactory receptor neuron alters both its relative responsiveness to subsequent odor stimuli and the pattern and extent of its synaptic interactions with second order neurons in the olfactory bulb. We plan to continue our study of olfactory communication in mammals by focusing on the role of chronic odor exposure and receptor neuron turnover in modifying odor quality discrimination in the mouse. We presume that treatments which reliably alter quality discriminations in a predictable fashion will also produce alterations in those regions of the olfactory system that participate in the discrimination of odor quality. Once localized, the neural alterations produced in these regions will be evaluated in order to unravel the neural mechanisms responsible for quality discrimination. In addition to its well recognized ability to make complex olfactory discriminations, the mouse model adds the potential for a range of genetic manipulations and a decrease in normal intra-animal differences. A range of different purified odorous compounds, including behaviorally relevant components of pheromones will be used as stimuli in an integrated series of anatomical and behavioral studies of the olfactory system with the long term goal of revealing how chemical signals ultimately give rise to natural behaviors. Special emphasis will be placed on the roles played by both early and late olfactory experience in shaping the afferent systems and the mechanisms associated with the encoding and processing of pheromone and non-pheromone stimuli. As was the case with our previous proposal, this continues to be a broad program in which we ultimately hope to obtain the complete specification of each odor stimulus, the properties of the various receptors, their central pathways, and the behaviors elicited by chemical signals.