MECHANISMS OF OLFACTORY COMMUNICATION

特殊的气味腺体和其他生物气味来源广泛存在 在动物王国里。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异的行为 和神经内分泌反应。特定组件的各个组件 行为顺序可能取决于不同的单独化合物或 混合在单一的天然气味中。几种不同的 传入输入(即主嗅觉系统和辅助嗅觉系统)可以 在复杂自然气味的检测和识别方面进行合作。 事实上，嗅觉系统的信号特征之一就是它的能力 检测和处理定量和定性方面的 简单和复杂的自然刺激，以便适当的行为反应 都被生产出来。负责这些的神经机制 辨别能力，尤指那些参与 人们对不同气味质量的分辨知之甚少。此外，它还 似乎系统的辨别能力和 构成这些能力的神经底物不是固定的，而是 在一生中都可以改变。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 嗅觉感受器神经元改变其对 随后的气味刺激及其突触的模式和范围 与嗅球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，重点放在 慢性气味暴露和感受器神经元更新在修饰中的作用 在老鼠身上辨别气味质量。我们假设那些治疗方法 以可预测的方式可靠地改变质量歧视也将 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， 将对这些区域产生的神经改变进行评估，以便 解开导致质量歧视的神经机制。在……里面 除了公认的制造复杂嗅觉的能力之外 区分，小鼠模型增加了一系列遗传基因的可能性 操纵和减少正常的动物内部差异。一个范围 不同的纯化气味化合物，包括行为相关的 信息素的成分将被用作一系列综合的刺激 长嗅球嗅觉系统的解剖学和行为学研究 学期目标是揭示化学信号是如何最终产生自然的 行为。将特别强调两者所扮演的角色 早期和晚期嗅觉经验在形成传入系统和 与信息素的编码和处理有关的机制和 非信息素刺激物。与我们之前的提议一样，这一点 继续是一个广泛的计划，我们最终希望在这个计划中获得 每种气味刺激物的完整规格，各种特性 受体、它们的中枢通路和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.