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Updated: Jul 3, 2026

Quadruple Immunostaining of the Olfactory Bulb for Visualization of Olfactory Sensory Axon Molecular Identity Codes
Published on: June 5, 2017
Principles of glomerular organization in the human olfactory bulb--implications for odor processing
Alison Maresh1, Diego Rodriguez Gil, Mary C Whitman
1Department of Neurobiology, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, Connecticut, United States of America.
Human olfactory sensory neurons show a higher convergence ratio (16:1) than mice (2:1), suggesting different odor coding in the human olfactory bulb. This may involve additional glomeruli for enhanced odor representation.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Olfactory System Research
Background:
- Mice olfactory sensory neurons (OSN) express one odor receptor (OR) and converge to ~2 glomeruli in the olfactory bulb (OB), a 2:1 ratio.
- Humans have fewer intact ORs (~350) than mice (~1,100).
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate if the mouse glomerular convergence ratio applies to humans.
- To determine the glomerular convergence ratio in the human olfactory bulb.
Main Methods:
- Analysis of human olfactory bulb (OB) structure.
- Comparison of glomerular counts between mice and humans.
Main Results:
- Human OBs contain over 5,500 glomeruli, yielding an approximate 16:1 convergence ratio (glomeruli/OR).
- This ratio significantly differs from the 2:1 ratio observed in mice.
Conclusions:
- The initial coding of odor information in the human OB may differ from rodent models.
- Humans might utilize additional glomeruli for subpopulations of ORs, potentially enhancing odor representation.
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