Odor-evoked oxygen consumption by action potential and synaptic transmission in the olfactory bulb

The relationship between metabolism of neuronal activity, microvascular organization, and blood flow dynamics is critical for interpreting functional brain imaging. Here we used the rat dorsal olfactory bulb as a model to determine in vivo the correlation between action potential propagation, synaptic transmission, oxygen consumption, and capillary density during odor stimulation. We find that capillary lumen occupies approximately 3% of the glomerular volume, where synaptic transmission occurs, and only 0.1% of the overlying nerve layer. In glomeruli, odor triggers a local early decrease in tissue oxygen partial pressure that results principally from dendritic activation rather than from firing of axon terminals, transmitter release or astrocyte activation. In the nerve layer, action potential propagation does not generate local changes in tissue oxygen partial pressure. We conclude that capillary density is tightly correlated with the oxidative metabolism of synaptic transmission, and suggest that action potential propagation operates mainly anaerobically.