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Related Concept Videos

Physiology of Smell and Olfactory Pathway01:20

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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.
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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.
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Sensory systems detect stimuli—such as light and sound waves—and transduce them into neural signals that can be interpreted by the nervous system. In addition to external stimuli detected by the senses, some sensory systems detect internal stimuli—such as the proprioceptors in muscles and tendons that send feedback about limb position.
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Auditory pathways constitute the complex neural circuits responsible for transmitting and interpreting auditory information from the peripheral auditory system to the brain. Sound waves are initially captured by the outer ear, funneled through the ear canal, and reach the tympanic membrane (eardrum). These vibrations are transmitted via the middle ear's ossicles to the inner ear's cochlea.
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Related Experiment Video

Updated: Apr 28, 2026

Quadruple Immunostaining of the Olfactory Bulb for Visualization of Olfactory Sensory Axon Molecular Identity Codes
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Coding and transformations in the olfactory system.

Naoshige Uchida1, Cindy Poo, Rafi Haddad

  • 1Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology, Center for Brain Science, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138;

Annual Review of Neuroscience
|June 7, 2014
PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

The timing of neural activity in the olfactory bulb (OB) conveys odor information. The piriform cortex (PC) uses these temporal patterns to decode smells.

Keywords:
neural codingolfactionpattern recognition

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Area of Science:

  • Neuroscience
  • Sensory coding
  • Olfactory system

Background:

  • The role of precise spike timing in neural coding is a long-standing debate.
  • Olfactory bulb (OB) neurons display complex temporal dynamics, but their functional significance is unclear.
  • Piriform cortex (PC) odor responses are shaped by both OB inputs and intrinsic circuits.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the functional relevance of temporal coding in the olfactory system.
  • To determine if spike timing in the OB conveys odor information.
  • To explore how the PC decodes temporal patterns from the OB.

Main Methods:

  • Recording neural activity in awake behaving animals.
  • Analyzing neural circuit dynamics in the piriform cortex.
  • Stimulating the OB with controlled temporal patterns.

Main Results:

  • Highly organized temporal structures of activity were observed in the OB.
  • The PC's intrinsic circuits play a crucial role in processing OB inputs.
  • Stimulation experiments confirmed the relevance of temporal codes.

Conclusions:

  • Relative timing of neuronal activity in the OB effectively conveys odor information.
  • The PC has mechanisms to decode temporal patterns of OB input, highlighting the importance of neural timing in olfaction.