RECEPTOR MECHANISMS IN OLFACTION

嗅觉是一种感觉系统，在哺乳动物中，它提供检测和 识别空气中的物质。 它能有效地运作，因为它 对大范围的气味非常敏感 浓度，因为它提供了广泛的歧视之间的伟大 即使在低浓度下，也能产生多种物质。 这些特性使得 嗅觉系统在感知和识别化学物质方面的独特作用 化合物. 然而，检测和区分 气味物质在嗅觉上皮中的实现是未知的。 研究 这些机制是本研究项目的长期目标。 的 新鲜分离的受体神经元的膜电特性， 来自小鼠嗅上皮的支持细胞将用 膜片钳技术 这种方法允许单通道电流 和全细胞电流，以解决和检查下的各种 体外条件 该技术的灵敏度与 报告嗅觉系统，允许单个 如果它们引起通道激活，则需要检测分子。 问题 气味物质之间的相互依赖性的生理作用， 嗅觉受体细胞的膜电导将被解决， 研究气味检测和辨别。

Olfaction is the sensory system which, in mammals, provides detection and identification of airborne substances. It operates efficiently because it is extraordinarily sensitive over an extended range of odorant concentrations and because it provides broad discrimination among a great variety of substances even at low concentrations. These features make the olfactory system unique in its roles of sensing and identifying chemical compounds. However, the mechanisms whereby detection and discrimination of odorants are achieved in the olfactory epithelium are unknown. The study of these mechanisms is the long-range goal of this research project. The membrane electrical properties of freshly dissociated receptor neurons and support cells from mouse olfactory epithelia will be studied with the patch-clamp technique. This method allows both single-channel currrents and whole-cell currents to be resolved and examined under a variety of conditions in vitro. The sensitivity of the technique is commensurate with that reported for the olfactory system, allowing interactions of single molecules to be detected if they cause channel activation. Questions about the physiological role of the interdependencies between odor substances and membrane conductance in the olfactory receptor cells will be addressed to study odor detection and discrimination.