Limbic system Flashcards
How many different odours can you smell?
2000-4000
What is the molecular mechanism?
Largely unknown
What happens to smell with age?
There is progressive loss
What are the 3 types of olfactory epithelium?
Bipolar Olfactory Neurones
Sustentacular Cells – support cells mainly providing metabolic support
Basal Cells – there is some regeneration in olfactory neurones
Where is the olfactory bulb found?
Sitting on top of the cribriform plate
Where is the olfactory epithelium?
In the upper part of the nose
What is the passage of information from olfactory receptor cells?
Axons of bipolar cells pass through the cribriform plate in the base of the skull up into olfactory bulb
These bipolar cells synapse at glomerulus with second order olfactory neuron which sends axons down olfactory tract toward brain
What can second order olfactory neurons be called?
olfactory bulb mitral cells
What happens to olfactory tract?
It splits to form the medial and lateral olfactory stria
Where does higher processing of smell occur?
piriform and orbitofrontal cortices
What is the relevance of connections to the brainstem?
Connections of the olfactory system to the brainstem because odours can promote autonomic responses e.g. salivate when you smell
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What is a clinical deficit in olfactory system known as?
Anosmia
What is a common cause of anosmia?
Mid-face trauma
Fracture of the skull can break cribriform plate and shear off neurons going from epithelium
Where is epilepsy focused?
Temporal lobe
piriform cortex is also in temporal lobe
What will people with epilepsy experience that may help to indicate arrival of epileptic event?
Prodromal aura
They’ll smell something that isn’t there prior to onset of a seizure
What is a general common cause of anosmia?
neurodegenerative disease
Give two diseases in which pathology in olfactory bulb is an early aspect/presentation
Parkinson’s - abnormal protein accumulation (from my notes)
Alzheimer’s
Describe the genetic aspect of Parkinsons
It’s sporadic
less than 5% due to autosomal dominant/recessive inheritance
Environmental trigger
How can environmental trigger cause some of the early symptoms of Parkinsons?
Stimulation may be through the gut (vagus to brainstem) or through nose, loss of smell and diarrhoea
Not useful as these are common symptoms
What was Broca’s definition of limbic system?
rim or limbus of cortex adjacent to corpus callosum and diencephalon
Structurally and functionally interrelated areas considered as a single functional complex
What functions is limbic system responsible for?
Maintenance of homestasis via:
Homeostasis (mainly hypothalamic functions such as regulation of food intake and pituitary hormone release)
Agonistic behaviour (fight or flight)
Sexual and reproductive behaviour
Memory - the basis of all emotional responses to world related to previous experience