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Related Concept Videos

Olfaction01:25

Olfaction

The sense of smell is achieved through the activities of the olfactory system. It starts when an airborne odorant enters the nasal cavity and reaches olfactory epithelium (OE). The OE is protected by a thin layer of mucus, which also serves the purpose of dissolving more complex compounds into simpler chemical odorants. The size of the OE and the density of sensory neurons varies among species; in humans, the OE is only about 9-10 cm2.
The olfactory receptors are embedded in the cilia of the...
Olfactory Receptors: Location and Structure01:03

Olfactory Receptors: Location and Structure

The process of olfaction, also known as the sense of smell, is a sophisticated chemical response system. The specialized sensory neurons that facilitate this process, known as olfactory receptor neurons, are situated in an upper segment of the nasal cavity, known as the olfactory epithelium. Olfactory sensory neurons are bipolar, with their dendrites extending from the epithelium's apex into the mucus that lines the nasal cavity. Airborne molecules, when inhaled, traverse the olfactory...
Physiology of Smell and Olfactory Pathway01:20

Physiology of Smell and Olfactory Pathway

Humans detect odors with the help of specialized cells located in the upper part of the nasal cavity, called olfactory receptor neurons (ORNs). ORNs possess hair-like structures called cilia, which are receptive to sensations from the inhaled air. When an odorant molecule binds to a specific receptor on the cell of the cilia, it leads to a series of events that ultimately cause the ORN to send electrical signals to the olfactory bulb in the brain through the olfactory nerves.
The olfactory...
Visual System01:26

Visual System

Light enters the eye through the cornea, a transparent, dome-shaped surface covering the surface of the eyeball that helps to direct and focus incoming light. This light is then channeled toward the pupil, an adjustable opening whose size is controlled by the iris. The iris, a pigmented muscle, regulates the amount of light entering the eye by contracting or dilating the pupil, thereby ensuring optimal light levels for clear vision.
Once through the pupil, the light passes through the lens, a...

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Related Experiment Video

Updated: Jun 27, 2026

Imaging Odor-Evoked Activities in the Mouse Olfactory Bulb using Optical Reflectance and Autofluorescence Signals
08:30

Imaging Odor-Evoked Activities in the Mouse Olfactory Bulb using Optical Reflectance and Autofluorescence Signals

Published on: October 31, 2011

Imaging and coding in the olfactory system.

J S Kauer1, J White

  • 1Department of Neuroscience, Tufts University School of Medicine, 136 Harrison Avenue, Boston, Massachusetts 02111, USA. john.kauer@tufts.edu

Annual Review of Neuroscience
|August 25, 2001
PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

Functional imaging reveals how the peripheral olfactory pathway encodes odorant stimuli. Understanding this neural coding is crucial for defining odorant space and animal behavior.

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The Olfactory System as a Model to Study Axonal Growth Patterns and Morphology In Vivo
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Quadruple Immunostaining of the Olfactory Bulb for Visualization of Olfactory Sensory Axon Molecular Identity Codes

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Related Experiment Videos

Last Updated: Jun 27, 2026

Imaging Odor-Evoked Activities in the Mouse Olfactory Bulb using Optical Reflectance and Autofluorescence Signals
08:30

Imaging Odor-Evoked Activities in the Mouse Olfactory Bulb using Optical Reflectance and Autofluorescence Signals

Published on: October 31, 2011

The Olfactory System as a Model to Study Axonal Growth Patterns and Morphology In Vivo
08:29

The Olfactory System as a Model to Study Axonal Growth Patterns and Morphology In Vivo

Published on: October 30, 2014

Quadruple Immunostaining of the Olfactory Bulb for Visualization of Olfactory Sensory Axon Molecular Identity Codes
06:32

Quadruple Immunostaining of the Olfactory Bulb for Visualization of Olfactory Sensory Axon Molecular Identity Codes

Published on: June 5, 2017

Area of Science:

  • Neuroscience
  • Sensory Systems
  • Olfactory Coding

Background:

  • Functional imaging allows analysis of broadly distributed neuronal activity.
  • The dimensions of "odorant space" and how they are encoded remain poorly defined.
  • Understanding olfactory coding requires correlating neural responses with stimulus properties and animal behavior.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To characterize the attributes of odorant space by examining neural encoding in the peripheral olfactory pathway.
  • To integrate imaging results with other data to understand olfactory coding.

Main Methods:

  • Utilizing functional imaging techniques to document distributed neural events.
  • Analyzing neural responses in the context of physical-chemical stimulus attributes.
  • Comparing neural coding with animal behavioral output.

Main Results:

  • Recent studies provide new insights into the odorant coding problem.
  • Imaging results contribute to understanding how odors are processed by the peripheral olfactory pathway.

Conclusions:

  • Functional imaging is a key tool for studying distributed neural events in the olfactory system.
  • Further research is needed to fully elucidate the complexities of olfactory coding.