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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...
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...
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...
Tactile and Chemical Senses01:27

Tactile and Chemical Senses

Tactile senses encompass touch, temperature, and pain, each mediated by specific receptors. Touch receptors detect mechanical energy or pressure against the skin. Sensory fibers from these receptors enter the spinal cord and relay information to the brain stem. Here, most fibers cross over to the opposite side of the brain. The touch information then moves to the thalamus, which projects a map of the body's surface onto the somatosensory areas of the parietal lobes in the cerebral cortex. This...

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Related Experiment Video

Updated: May 31, 2026

Odorant-induced Responses Recorded from Olfactory Receptor Neurons using the Suction Pipette Technique
08:08

Odorant-induced Responses Recorded from Olfactory Receptor Neurons using the Suction Pipette Technique

Published on: April 5, 2012

Precise olfactory responses tile the sniff cycle.

Roman Shusterman1, Matthew C Smear, Alexei A Koulakov

  • 1Janelia Farm Research Campus, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Ashburn, Virginia, USA.

Nature Neuroscience
|July 19, 2011
PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

In mice, sniffing precisely controls how odor information reaches olfactory receptors. This sniff-locked neural activity in the olfactory bulb allows for rapid odor discrimination and robust sensory coding.

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Related Experiment Videos

Last Updated: May 31, 2026

Odorant-induced Responses Recorded from Olfactory Receptor Neurons using the Suction Pipette Technique
08:08

Odorant-induced Responses Recorded from Olfactory Receptor Neurons using the Suction Pipette Technique

Published on: April 5, 2012

Vertical T-maze Choice Assay for Arthropod Response to Odorants
06:13

Vertical T-maze Choice Assay for Arthropod Response to Odorants

Published on: February 14, 2013

Controlled Odor Mimic Permeation Systems for Olfactory Training and Field Testing
05:54

Controlled Odor Mimic Permeation Systems for Olfactory Training and Field Testing

Published on: January 28, 2021

Area of Science:

  • Neuroscience
  • Olfactory System Research
  • Sensory Processing

Background:

  • In terrestrial vertebrates, sniffing is crucial for regulating odorant access to olfactory receptors.
  • The timing of olfactory stimuli is determined by the sniffing cycle, influencing sensory perception.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the precise timing of olfactory bulb activity in response to odorants during natural sniffing behavior.
  • To determine if olfactory bulb neurons exhibit sniff-locked activity and its implications for odor coding.

Main Methods:

  • Recorded neural activity in the olfactory bulb of awake mice during odor stimulation.
  • Analyzed the temporal patterns and precision of mitral/tufted cell responses relative to the sniff cycle.

Main Results:

  • Odorants evoked precisely sniff-locked activity in mitral/tufted cells, with response jitter averaging 12 ms.
  • Individual neurons showed odor-specific temporal activity patterns, tiling the sniff cycle across the population.
  • Neural responses were more tightly time-locked to sniff phase than to inhalation onset, carrying sufficient information to discriminate odors.

Conclusions:

  • The olfactory bulb exhibits high temporal precision in processing odor information, tightly linked to sniffing.
  • Sniff-locked neural activity provides a robust mechanism for ensemble coding, resilient to variations in sniff rate.
  • Temporal specificity in mitral/tufted cell output offers rich information for downstream olfactory processing areas.