Jove
Visualize
Contact Us
JoVE
x logofacebook logolinkedin logoyoutube logo
ABOUT JoVE
OverviewLeadershipBlogJoVE Help Center
AUTHORS
Publishing ProcessEditorial BoardScope & PoliciesPeer ReviewFAQSubmit
LIBRARIANS
TestimonialsSubscriptionsAccessResourcesLibrary Advisory BoardFAQ
RESEARCH
JoVE JournalMethods CollectionsJoVE Encyclopedia of ExperimentsArchive
EDUCATION
JoVE CoreJoVE BusinessJoVE Science EducationJoVE Lab ManualFaculty Resource CenterFaculty Site
Terms & Conditions of Use
Privacy Policy
Policies

Related Experiment Videos

Olfaction in olfactory bulbectomized rats.

Burton Slotnick1, Renee Cockerham, Erin Pickett

  • 1Department of Psychology, University of South Florida, Tampa, Florida 33549, USA. slotnic@american.edu

The Journal of Neuroscience : the Official Journal of the Society for Neuroscience
|October 16, 2004
PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

Related Concept Videos

You might also read

Related Articles

Articles linked to this work by shared authors, journal, and citation graph.

Sort by
Same author

No evidence tube entrapment distresses rodents in typical empathy tests.

Animal cognition·2024
Same author

Rats (Rattus norvegicus) find occupancy of a restraint tube rewarding.

Journal of the experimental analysis of behavior·2020
Same author

Does a rat free a trapped rat due to empathy or for sociality?

Journal of the experimental analysis of behavior·2018
Same author

Odor-Cued Bitter Taste Avoidance.

Chemical senses·2018
Same author

Does a rat release a soaked conspecific due to empathy?

Animal cognition·2016
Same author

Subsecond Regulation of Synaptically Released Dopamine by COMT in the Olfactory Bulb.

The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience·2016

Rats lacking olfactory bulbs can still detect and discriminate odors. New olfactory pathways to the forebrain, like the frontal neocortex, can support these sensory functions, demonstrating neural plasticity.

Area of Science:

  • Neuroscience
  • Olfactory System Research
  • Sensory Plasticity

Background:

  • The olfactory bulbs are traditionally considered essential for odor processing.
  • Limited understanding exists regarding the brain's capacity to reroute olfactory information in the absence of olfactory bulbs.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate if olfactory sensory neurons can form functional connections in novel forebrain areas after olfactory bulb removal.
  • To determine if these aberrant connections support odor detection and discrimination.

Main Methods:

  • Rats underwent olfactory bulb removal at different developmental stages.
  • Olfactory sensory neuron projections were traced using horseradish peroxidase.
  • Rats were trained and tested on odor detection and discrimination tasks using olfactometry and operant conditioning.

Related Experiment Videos

Main Results:

  • Olfactory sensory neuron axons successfully projected to novel forebrain sites, including the frontal neocortex and anterior olfactory nucleus.
  • A subset of rats with these anomalous projections demonstrated the ability to detect and discriminate odors.
  • Performance correlated with the location and density of these new olfactory inputs.

Conclusions:

  • The olfactory system exhibits significant plasticity, allowing for functional olfactory pathways to form in new brain regions.
  • Odor detection and discrimination are possible even without the olfactory bulbs, provided functional aberrant connections are established in the forebrain.