NEURAL CODING OF STIMULUS QUALITY IN OLFACTION

该项目致力于嗅觉系统编码的神经机制 刺激质量 这将通过检查 神经反应的维度和感官体验的维度之间 对于一组定义的气味剂，采用开发的分析技术， 研究味觉质量编码，但以前从未应用于嗅觉。 的 项目使用了一个模型，多刺龙虾，利用这一事实， 生物体具有发育良好的肾小球型嗅觉系统， 这种生物的神经活动和进食行为是由 简单、易于识别和定量的有机分子的混合物。 一个目的是分析这种动物如何在行为上对气味进行分类 分子，使用厌恶条件反射程序。 该信息 重要的是，即使许多最有效的，行为上的， 这种动物的相关气味已经确定，但尚不清楚 什么构成该动物的单一气味质量（即，这 气味剂被感知为闻起来相似）。 然后，为了描绘 这些气味品质的神经代码，电生理学方法将 用于研究单个嗅觉中间神经元的反应特性 大脑的主要嗅觉处理中心。 这些的interneurons 是嗅觉通路中的三级神经元 响应和编码 然后可以将该水平的神经元机制与之前进行比较 描述了神经元在嗅觉的前两个层次的反应， 通路 这将有助于确定是否相似， 在给定的时间内，所有细胞的气味引起的神经活动模式 神经水平（即，跨神经元模式）可以解释 气味的感知气味，并评估命运和功能 感受器细胞和低级别的中间神经元， 谱 此外，形态和生理特性， 单个中间神经元将被关联以确定结构 这是嗅觉系统功能组织的基础。

The project addresses neural mechanisms whereby olfactory systems code stimulus quality. This will be accomplished by examining the relationship between dimensions of neural response and dimensions of sensory experience for a set of defined odorants, employing analytical techniques developed to study gustatory quality coding but never before applied to olfaction. The project uses a model, the spiny lobster, exploiting the fact that this organism has a well-developed, glomerular-type olfactory system and that neural activity and feeding behavior in this organism are elicited by mixtures of simple, easily identified and quantified organic molecules. One aim is to analyze how this animal behaviorally classifies odorant molecules, using aversive conditioning procedures. This information is important because, even though many of the most effective, behaviorally relevant odorants for this animal have been identified, it is not known what constitutes a single odor quality for this animal (i.e., which odorants are perceived as smelling similar). Then, toward delineating the neural code for these odor qualities, electrophysiological methodology will be used to study the response properties of single olfactory interneurons in a major olfactory processing center of the brain. These interneurons are third-order neurons in the olfactory pathway. The responses and coding mechanisms of neurons at this level can then be compared to previously described responses of neurons at the first two levels of the olfactory pathway. This will serve to determine whether similarities in the odorant-elicited patterns of neural activity across all cells at a given neural level (i.e., across-neuron patterns) can account for similarities in the perceived smells of the odorants, and to evaluate the fate and function of receptor cells and low-order interneurons with narrowly-tuned response spectra. Additionally, morphological and physiological properties of single interneurons will be correlated in order to determine the structural basis for the functional organization of this olfactory system.