Progress in defining heterogeneity and modeling periglomerular cells in the olfactory bulb

In recent years the evolution of olfactory bulb periglomerular cells, as well as the function of periglomerular cells in olfactory encoding, has attracted increasing attention. Studies of neural information encoding based on the analysis of simulation and modeling have given rise to electrophysiological models of periglomerular cells, which have an important role in the understanding of the biology of these cells. In this review we provide a brief introduction to the anatomy of the olfactory system and the cell types in the olfactory bulb. We elaborate on the latest progress in the study of the heterogeneity of periglomerular cells based on different classification criteria, such as molecular markers, structure, ion channels and action potentials. Then, we discuss the several existing electrophysiological models of periglomerular cells, and we highlight the problems and defects of these models. Finally, considering our present work, we propose a future direction for electrophysiological investigations of periglomerular cells and for the modeling of periglomerular cells and olfactory information encoding.