RECEPTORS MECHANISMS IN OLFACTION

这个项目的长期目标是学习脊椎动物如何嗅觉 感受器神经元可以检测和辨别不同的气味。这项研究将 用泥巴小狗，Necturus maculosus，一种大型水生火蜥蜴 非常适合贴片记录技术的细胞。感受性神经元 将在没有酶的情况下分离出来，以保持其对化疗的敏感性，以及 使用我们已经证明可以刺激泥巴小狗的气味进行了研究 体内的嗅觉系统。我们还发现，非洲爪哇注射的卵母细胞 通过从嗅觉组织中制备的mRNA可以对气味变得敏感 分子。我们将利用这个表达系统和分子生物学 识别和表征受体和其他成分的技术 嗅觉传导通路。下一步有四个具体目标 计划期。 1.描述用于检测氨基酸的细胞机制 以及分离的嗅觉神经元中的芳香化合物。 2.通过评估化学-感觉辨别的基础 个体嗅觉神经元表现出的敏感性。 3.确定感受器电位的来源，识别离子 它背后的电导以及它们是如何被化学物质调制的 刺激。 4.识别和鉴定受体和其他组分 嗅觉转导通路在卵母细胞中的表达 嗅觉上皮。 制剂的适宜性和方法的可行性 证明了这一点，为这项研究将产生 有用的结果。

The long-range goal of this program are to learn how vertebrate olfactory receptor neurons detect and discriminate different odors. The study will use the mudpuppy, Necturus maculosus, an aquatic salamander with large cells that are well suited to patch-recording techniques. Receptor neurons will be isolated without enzymes to preserve their chemo-sensitivity, and studied using odorants which we have shown to stimulate the mudpuppy olfactory system in vivo. We have also shown that Xenopus oocytes injected with mRNA prepared from olfactory tissue can become sensitive to odor molecules. We will use this expression system and molecular biological techniques to identify and characterize receptors and other elements of olfactory transduction pathways. There are four specific aims for the next program period. 1. Characterize the cellular mechanisms used for detection of amino acids and aromatic compounds in dissociated olfactory neurons. 2. Examine the basis of chemo-sensory discrimination by evaluating the sensitivity exhibited by individual olfactory neurons. 3. Determine the origin of the receptor potential, identifying the ionic conductances which underlie it and how they are modulated by chemical stimulation. 4. Identify and characterize receptors and other components of the olfactory transduction pathways by expression in oocytes of mRNA from the olfactory epithelium. The suitability of the preparations and the feasibility of the methods have been demonstrated, providing strong assurance that the study will yield useful results.