OLFACTORY RECEPTOR NEURONS

嗅觉受体神经元

• 批准号: 6413270
• 负责人: JOHN W SCOTT
• 金额: $ 10万
• 依托单位: EMORY UNIVERSITY
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 财政年份: 2001
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2001-02-01 至 2004-01-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/6413270
• 关键词: albino rat; cell biology; chemoreceptors; electrical measurement; electrophysiology; gas chromatography; neurosurgery; odors; olfactions; olfactory lobe; respiratory epithelium

Recent advances have suggested a strong spatial component in the organization of olfactory receptor neurons (ORNs). Multineuron electroolfactogram (EOG) recordings spaced systematically across the rat olfactory epithelium show selective responses to odorants with certain chemical structures. The regions of the epithelium responding differently to polar and nonpolar odorants express different subgroups of olfactory receptor genes and ORNs of these regions send axons to different parts of the olfactory bulb. This suggests a spatial factor in olfactory processing. The behavior of individual ORN populations or of receptor protein populations has not been extensively surveyed, although a small number have been studied. We will use findings from our EOG recordings as a guide to investigate the properties of individual ORNs. The ultimate goal is to find principles by which chemical structure determines odor quality. For example, it is hypothesized that most ORNs in the dorsal epithelium will be more responsive to polar molecules, while those in the ventral epithelium will be more responsive to saturated hydrocarbons. Because of evidence suggesting diversity in receptor mechanisms, the possibility of inhibitory interactions in ORNs will be studied. The studies will be done in the intact rat olfactory epithelium to preserve both spatial relationships and the processes 'occurring in the surrounding tissue. The primary technique will be extracellular single unit recording, although intracellular penetrations may be used to validate conclusions about inhibitory actions or confirm that very broad response spectra result from ORNs rather than multicellular recordings. The research should provide a greater understanding of the spatial organization of inputs to the olfactory bulb. The data may ultimately aid in the understanding of the basic functioning of this sensory system, which is important in social and alimentary behaviors.

最近的进展表明嗅觉受体神经元（ORN）的组织具有强大的空间成分。大鼠嗅上皮系统分布的多神经元嗅电图（EOG）记录显示出对具有某些化学结构的气味剂的选择性反应。对极性和非极性气味剂有不同反应的上皮区域表达不同的嗅觉受体基因亚组，这些区域的 ORN 将轴突发送到嗅球的不同部分。这表明嗅觉处理中存在空间因素。尽管已经研究了一小部分，但单个 ORN 群体或受体蛋白群体的行为尚未得到广泛调查。我们将使用 EOG 记录的结果作为研究单个 ORN 特性的指南。最终目标是找到化学结构决定气味质量的原理。例如，假设背侧上皮中的大多数 ORN 对极性分子更敏感，而腹侧上皮中的 ORN 对饱和碳氢化合物更敏感。由于有证据表明受体机制存在多样性，因此将研究 ORN 中抑制相互作用的可能性。这些研究将在完整的大鼠嗅觉上皮中进行，以保留空间关系和周围组织中发生的过程。主要技术将是细胞外单个单元记录，尽管细胞内渗透可用于验证有关抑制作用的结论或确认非常广泛的响应谱是由 ORN 而不是多细胞记录产生的。这项研究应该可以更好地理解嗅球输入的空间组织。这些数据最终可能有助于理解这种感觉系统的基本功能，这对于社会和饮食行为很重要。