Lecture 28: Chemical Senses, Taste and Smell Flashcards
Where are the primary sensory neurons located?
Olfactory receptor cells or Olfactory Sensory neurons (OSN) are located in the neuroepithelium in the nose
-sends axons up through the cribriform plate and synapse with olfactory bulb neurons (second order sensory neurons of smell)
Where do second order neurons in olfactory bulb go?
Via the olfactory tracts, to the following places:
- Pyriform cortex: uncus
- important for smell perception
- Amygdala: inside temporal lobe
- important for emotional perception of smell
- located within the temporal lobe
Once second order neurons reach pyriform cortex and amygdala, where do they go next?
- frontal cortex
- hippocampus (critical for memory consolidation
- hypothalamus (integrates function of autonomic nervous system and hormone release)
Do humans have a functional vomeronasal organ (VNO)?
No…other species have VNO that play a role in sniffing out pheromones
-vestigial in humans
What role do supporting cells play in the neuroepithelium of nose?
- Supporting cells = offers glial like support
2. Basal cells = are the stem cells of olfaction…self renew and create new olfactory sensory neurons
What are basal cells?
the stem cells of olfaction…self renew and create new olfactory sensory neurons
What is the process of smell signal transduction?
i. Odorants bind to odorant receptor
ii. odorant receptor is a GPCR…activates cAMP
iii. camp opens Na/Ca cells so that cell is depolarized
iv. depolarization by Na/Ca influx will open up Cl- cells and have a net EFFLUX of Cl-…leading to further depolarization
What is labeled line coding?
Integrity of information maintained from receptor to cortex along non-integrated paths
Example: vision
-primary afferent from receptor cells responding to the same stimuli synapses on nucleus which project to dorso-medial thalamus primary sensory cortex if olfaction
What is population coding?
Involves reading out population activity of MANY DIFFERENT neurons along the pathway
Example: taste and olfaction is processed
How are odor quality and intensity encoded?
Via population coding
-encoded by combinations of multiple receptors/neurons
One odorant = multiple receptors
One receptor = multiple odorants
What are the three types of cells found in the olfactory bulb?
i. Mitral/Tufted cells
ii. Periglomerular cells
iii. Granule cells
What are glomeruli and why don’t we consider them one of the three types of cells found in olfactory bulbs?
Glomeruli = glial wrappings that synapse on the distal end of dendrites from 8-10 mitral cells
Glomeruli are the anatomical and functional units in the olfactory bulbe
-each glomeruli receives a few thousand OSN inputs with the same olfactory receptor
-each glomeruli send ouputs out to ~25 mitral/tufted cells that then project to the olfactory cortex
What are mitral/tufted cells?
- receive input from OSN
- send axons to higher cortical regions
What are periglomerular cells?
Modulate INPUT to mitral/tufted axons
-located adjacent to the OSN/glomeruli synapse
What are Granule cells?
modulate OUTPUT from mitral/tufted axons
located adjacent to the output axons of mitral/tufted cells