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Updated: Jun 20, 2026

Recording Temperature-induced Neuronal Activity through Monitoring Calcium Changes in the Olfactory Bulb of Xenopus laevis
Published on: June 3, 2016
Metabotropic glutamate receptors and dendrodendritic synapses in the main olfactory bulb
Hong-Wei Dong1, Thomas Heinbockel, Kathryn A Hamilton
1Department of Anatomy and Neurobiology, University of Tennessee Health Science Center, Memphis, Tennessee 38163, USA.
Abstract:
The main olfactory bulb (MOB) is the first site of synaptic processing in the central nervous system for odor information that is relayed from olfactory receptor neurons in the nasal cavity via the olfactory nerve (ON). Glutamate and ionotropic glutamate receptors (iGluRs) play a dominant role at ON synapses. Similarly, glutamate and iGluRs mediate dendrodendritic transmission between several populations of neurons within the MOB network. Neuroanatomical studies demonstrate that metabotropic glutamate receptors (mGluRs) are densely expressed through the MOB network, and they are particularly abundant at dendrodendritic synapses. Until recently, the physiological roles of mGluRs in the MOB were poorly understood. Over the past several years, mGluRs have been shown to play surprisingly powerful neuromodulatory roles at ON synapses and in dendrodendritic neurotransmission in the MOB. This chapter focuses on recent advances in our understanding of mGluR-mediated signaling components at dendrodendritic synapses.
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