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Physiology of Smell and Olfactory Pathway

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...

Olfaction

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...

Olfactory Receptors: Location and Structure

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...

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Related Experiment Video

Updated: Mar 28, 2026

Simultaneous Long-term Recordings at Two Neuronal Processing Stages in Behaving Honeybees

Simultaneous Long-term Recordings at Two Neuronal Processing Stages in Behaving Honeybees

Published on: July 21, 2014

Neurally Encoding Time for Olfactory Navigation.

In Jun Park¹, Andrew M Hein², Yuriy V Bobkov^3,4

¹Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida, United States of America.

Plos Computational Biology

|January 6, 2016

Summary

This summary is machine-generated.

Animals use rhythmic neurons in their noses to detect the timing of scent pulses. This temporal encoding helps them navigate and find odor sources in turbulent environments.

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Last Updated: Mar 28, 2026

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Published on: July 21, 2014

Author Spotlight: Understanding Processing of Olfactory and Spatial Information by Brain with Real-Time Behavioral Analysis

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Published on: June 5, 2017

Area of Science:

Neuroscience
Sensory Biology
Computational Biology

Background:

Accurate temporal encoding is crucial for nervous system function and behavior.
Rhythmically active neurons in olfactory organs may peripherally encode temporal information about odor encounters.

Purpose of the Study:

To investigate the functional significance of peripheral temporal encoding in olfactory navigation.
To demonstrate how sensory input from rhythmically active neurons influences odor source localization in turbulent environments.

Main Methods:

Reconstruction of spatiotemporal odor field behavior using laboratory turbulent plume data.
Application of recurrence theory to identify position-related information in odor pulse timing.
Utilizing a parameterized computational model to simulate neural encoding of temporal information.

Main Results:

Odor source position information is embedded within the timing of odor pulses in turbulent plumes.
Rhythmically active neurons can capture and encode this temporal information in real time.
This encoding facilitates efficient navigation to odor sources.

Conclusions:

Accurate temporal encoding of sensory cues is vital for effective olfactory navigation.
A mechanism for extracting and encoding temporal information from sensory environments is proposed, with potential broad applications in neural processing.