A Multicellular Method to Study Olfactory Encoding

描述（由申请人提供）：本提案概述了开发和 实现了一种多细胞记录方法来研究 嗅觉神经元传递的信息。关于气味的感官信息是 由许多不同的嗅觉神经元同时提取，并分布为 整个嗅球的肾小球动作电位序列。的 嗅觉神经元对气味的反应通常被描述为 兴奋性，但在孤立的神经元，兴奋性和抑制性的研究 已经报道了气味反应，相同的气味可以改变不同的气味。 不同神经元的膜电导。这种变化的存在， 提出了关于这些反应是真实的还是人为的问题， 强调了我们对编码的基本性质的了解是多么有限 过程是。目前的方法不适合于严格检查气味 编码.我们建议开发一种新的多细胞电记录 解决问题的技术这项技术将允许记录气味- 在单细胞水平上同时从一个 嗅觉感觉神经元的小群体。这种能力将代表 一项技术突破，可以大大提高我们对 嗅觉神经编码该方法将利用分离的嗅觉 上皮组织连同独立的玻璃微电极阵列， 每个记录来自暴露的嗅觉纤毛的细胞外动作电流 感觉神经元神经元将保留在完整的组织中， 降解酶处理，从而允许记录气味反应 在接近生理的条件下。因为它的多细胞特性 再加上长期记录的可能性，该方法提供了一个 独特的，高通量的气味反应生理测定。应当 理想的研究气味编码的基本机制， 这将为转基因研究提供一种有效的手段 这些动物的基因改造成本很高。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): This proposal outlines the development and implementation of a multicellular recording method to study encoding of information by olfactory sensory neurons. Sensory information about odor is extracted by many different olfactory neurons simultaneously and distributed as trains of action potentials to glomeruli throughout the olfactory bulbs. The response of an olfactory sensory neuron to odor is usually described as excitatory, but in studies of isolated neurons, both excitatory and inhibitory odor responses have been reported, and the same odor can alter different membrane conductances in different neurons. The presence of such variability has raised questions about whether the responses are real or artifactual, and it has emphasized how limited our knowledge of the fundamental nature of the encoding process is. Present methods are not well suited for critically examining odor encoding. We propose to develop a new multicellular electrical recording technique to address the problem This technique will permit recording of odor- elicited electrical activity at the single-cell level simultaneously from a small population of olfactory sensory neurons. Such a capability would represent a technological breakthrough that could significantly advance our understanding of olfactory neural encoding. The method will utilize isolated olfactory epithelial tissue together with an array of independent glass microelectrodes, each recording extracellular action currents from the exposed cilia of olfactory sensory neurons. The neurons would remain in the intact tissue and not require degradative enzymatic treatment, thus allowing odor responses to be recorded under nearly physiological conditions. Because of its multicellular nature coupled with the possibility of long-term recordings, the method offers a unique, high-throughput physiological assay of odor responses. It should be ideal for studying the fundamental mechanisms of odor encoding with pharmacological tools, and it will offer an efficient means to study transgenic animals which are expensive to engineer.