Anterior Olfactory Nucleus

描述（由申请人提供）：感觉系统是人们接收他们需要导航世界的信息的手段。在所有的主要方式中，嗅觉可能是最不被理解的，尽管它在我们的生活中扮演着许多重要的角色。在本建议中所描述的工作是为了仔细检查中央嗅觉通路中的一个非常重要的区域。前嗅核（AON）几乎在前脑嗅觉区同侧和对侧的每个信息处理点都有突触联系。因此，它能够驱动或调节整个中央嗅觉系统的突触活动。然而，与嗅粘膜、嗅球和梨状皮质的研究相比，它几乎被忽视了。这项研究将继续我们的AON的结构和功能的检查。这项工作有两个主要重点。第一，虽然该区域可能只有一个名称，但越来越明显的是，它包含几个不同的加工区，因此比最初认为的要复杂。本研究的主要目标是定义在AON的功能分区，建立其组织的基本信息。第二，嗅觉系统中交叉连接的存在很少受到关注。几乎在每一个感觉、运动和新皮层系统中，交叉连接对于促进复杂的信息处理都很重要，研究它们的工作已经在理解系统功能方面取得了巨大的进步。了解嗅觉系统中大脑半球间连接的作用无疑也会使我们对气味感知的机制有更复杂的认识。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Sensory systems are the means by which people receive the information they need to navigate about the world. Of all of the major modalities olfaction is perhaps the least understood, despite the fact that it plays many important roles in our lives. The work described in the present proposal is designed to examine carefully a very important region in the central olfactory pathways. The anterior olfactory nucleus (AON) has synaptic connections at nearly every point of information processing on both the ipsilateral and contralateral side of the olfactory regions of the forebrain. As such, it is capable of driving or modulating the synaptic activity of the entire central olfactory system. Nevertheless, it has been virtually ignored compared with studies of the olfactory mucosa, bulb and piriform cortex. The proposed research will continue our examination of the AON's structure and function. The work has two major foci. First, while the region may have one name, it is becoming obvious that it contains several different processing areas and is therefore more complicated than initially believed. The primary goal of this research is to define functional subregions in the AON to build fundamental information about its organization. Second, the existence of crossed connections in the olfactory system has received very little attention. In nearly every sensory, motor and neocortical system crossed connections are important in facilitating complex information processing and the work examining them has led to enormous advances in understanding system function. Understanding the contributions of interhemispheric connections in the olfactory system will doubtlessly also lead to more a sophisticated view of the mechanisms of odor perception.