PSY280 - 10. Chemical senses Flashcards
chemical senses
molecules floating in the air + molecules you put in your
mouth
stimulants incorporated into our body
have to take molecules in to experience perception
Chemical senses
basic purpose of life to take-in some substances & avoid others: which ones are which?
food vs toxins
to identify chemicals, help us identify which molecules are helpful
olfaction
odorant is an aromatic chemical.
Odor is the olfactory sensation.
Odorant
produce an odor, ordorant needs to be volatile & hydrophobic - There are some notable exceptions.
volatile - can become airborn
hydrophobic - repellant to water
Odorant
allows odourant to remain separate from medium, doesn’t dissolve in mucus + membrane to reach receptors
more molecules will have an odour, but not true universally
CO - byproduct of methane gas, but odourless - associate it with smell but added so we can detect it
the apparatus
2 bilateral olfactory bulb - first site of processing, two, ipsilateral
glomerulus (pl. glomeruli): with bulb organize info about odourants
cribriform plate - separates nose from brain
axons of OSN pass through tiny holes
olfactory epithelium - retina of the nose
the apparatus
olfactory mucosa: capture odourants to facilitate interaction with olfactory receptor neurons olfactory receptor (sensory) neurons: translates it to electrical signals
the apparatus
olfactory cilia: dendrites of sensory receptors - experience adult neurogenesis - regenerate every 28 days
contain receptors which interact with odourant molecules
turbinates - direct volatile molecules to olfactory epitheluim
nose - primary purpose to filter warm + humidify air before it’s passed on to lungs
the apparatus
pass through cribiform - delicate axons pass through tiny holes to synapse with olfactory bulb
olfactory bulb extension of brain - ipsilaterally organized
threshold
average, 7-8 molecules bind to one receptor to trigger an action potential & 40 action potentials are required for us to experience of odor*
detection threshold - lowest concentration of odourant that can be detected
threshold
sensitivity varies based on substance
CO2 low threshold important to detect
acetone has high threshold even though we can easily smell it
detecting odors
Dogs 30-100,000X more sensitive than people:
1 billion more ORNs, more cortex
humans .1% vs dogs 5% dedicated
not bad in detecting smells, humans can follow 10 m scent track of chocolate
Anosmia
total inability to smell, sinus infection/head trauma:
associated with depression
sensitivity declines with age
delicate sense
Anosmia
dependent on smells reaching olfactory - going through small axons
head trauma - can cut axons and may not come back
highly associated with depression: most likely has to do with adult neurogenesis - decreases in limbic system
die out faster than regeneration as we age
Olfactory receptors
analogous to visual pigments except humans have about 350 different types of receptors, not just 4
diff receptors respond to diff odourants - each of them has only 1 receptor type
will respond to range of odourants, but tend to have a preference
Olfactory receptors
1000 genes that code for olfactory receptors, but many are non-functional in humans, most are functional in rats, and dogs
Evolutionary Trade-Off?
trichromats vs dichromats
primates are trading olfaction for vision
old world - less olfactory genes, more colour vision
new world - more olfactory genes, less colour vision
Olfactory receptors
Each kind of receptor widely distributed across olfactory epithelium, but synapse on a specific glomeruli pair
glomeruli receive diff type of stimuli: organize info based on odourant in the olfactory bulb
Olfactory receptors
can receive all of signals from red and green
Molecular structure does not predict odor experience.
two diff structures can produce same odour
Ca2+ imaging
infuse odourant into fluorescent to easy visualize
CA+ enters cell during depolarization, decreasing concentration of fluorescence - means stronger activation
patterns of activation determines smell
each odourant can activate diff receptor types
at the receptors
Using Ca2+ imaging can identify odorant recognition profile - pattern of activation across multiple olfactory receptor types
similar structures can produce similar recognition profiles - not necessarily the case
in the olfactory bulb
Each odorant activates multiple glomeruli, location related to length of carbon chain for the chemical
produce pattern of activation across multiple glomeruli
carbon chain attached, but length varies
shorter chains more posterior/longer chains more anterior
location coding in olfactory bulb
in the olfactory bulb
Chemical structure matters less than the pattern of activity for determining odor
diff forms of same molecule where structure is flipped
stereoisomers smells diff, activation is also diff
similar pattern of activation, similar smell
higher-order processing
O1 & O2 have strong bi-directional connections to
limbic system, including the amygdala
piriform cortex - basic qualities related to odour are processed
orbitofrontal - analyzing odour at higher level, what they indicate - reward or punishment
higher-order processing
In olfactory bulb, evidence of placing coding (chemotopic map), but in the cortex, activation is more distributed
distributed level of activation across puriform cortex - expect odours processed synthetically
synthetic or analytic?
Audition is analytic: diff pitches activate diff parts of cochlea & we hear separate pitches
Vision is synthetic: 2 diff wavelengths of light combine to produce a singular experience of a diff color
analytic - distinct stimuli processed as seperate stimuli
synthetic - 1 experience even when contains multiple wavelengths
synthetic or analytic?
Olfaction is both, with a tendency toward synthesis: few odours that contain only 1 odourant
Analytic abilities vary with practice: depends on familiarity + practice in differentiating
synthetic or analytic
odour presented simultaneously can identify 3/5
each odour has separate odourant molecules produces distinct smell of bacon
our ability to distinguish bacon because we’ve experienced in diff contexts
identifying odors: presence vs. quality
detection/discrimination not identification
diff thresholds for each of these
identification threshold is 3x more than detection
350 olfactory receptor types to produce hundred thousands of types
the mute sense
All languages have only few words exclusively to describe smell
inability to name it even when they find it familiar
huge gap between odour and language
aromatic, redolent, stinky, fragrant, pungent