Trigeminale Modulation der olfaktorischen Signalverarbeitung

多年来，人们已经知道两个鼻化学感觉系统，嗅觉系统和三叉神经系统，相互影响的感觉性能。虽然在许多心理物理学研究中有很好的记录，但这种跨模态相互作用的细胞基础并不清楚。我们的项目旨在阐明这一现象在嗅觉的两个初始阶段，嗅上皮和嗅球中的细胞机制。基于神经解剖学，生理学和心理物理学实验，我们已经确定了三条证据线，指出三叉神经系统参与气味记忆的形成。(1)三叉神经系统特异性地作用于嗅上皮和嗅球中参与获得性嗅觉信息处理的结构，而不是介导先天性气味反应的结构;（2）在大鼠中，这种神经支配是在出生后发育的，表明它在成熟动物中专注于信息处理;（3）在人类中，气味记忆的形成是由鼻三叉神经系统的共刺激支持的。这些一致的结果表明，嗅觉性能是共同决定的三叉神经系统的神经调节的影响，在嗅上皮和嗅球的信息处理的初始阶段。我们的项目旨在研究这一概念的感觉处理的细胞，系统和认知水平。

It has been known for many years that the two nasal chemosensory systems, the olfactory system and the trigeminal system, influence each other's sensory performance. Although well documented in numerous psychophysical studies, the cellular basis of this cross-modal interaction is not understood. Our project aims to elucidate the cellular mechanisms of this phenomenon in the two initial stages of the sense of smell, the olfactory epithelium and the olfactory bulb. Based on neuroanatomical, physiological, and psychophysical experimentation, we have identified three lines of evidence that point to an involvement of the trigeminal system in the formation of odour memory. (1) The trigeminal system specifically targets those structures in the olfactory epithelium and bulb that are involved in the processing of acquired olfactory information, as opposed to structures that mediate innate odour responses; (2) in rats, this innervation develops postnatally, indicating its focus on information processing in the mature animal; (3) in humans, the formation of odour memory is supported by costimulation of the nasal trigeminal system. These consistent sets of results indicate that olfactory performance is co-determined by the neuromodulatory impact of the trigeminal system onto the initial stages of information processing in olfactory eptihelium and olfactory bulb. Our project is designed to examine this concept on the celluar, systemic and cognitive levels of sensory processing.