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Related Concept Videos

Olfaction01:25

Olfaction

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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.
The olfactory receptors are embedded in the cilia of the...
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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.
The olfactory...
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The Significance of Membrane Transport01:44

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The transport of solutes across the cell membrane is essential for metabolic processes, like maintaining cell size and volume, generating the action potential, exchanging nutrients and gases, etc. Membrane transport can be either passive or active. It can be simple diffusion, facilitated, or mediated transport aided by transport proteins such as transporters and channels.
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Olfactory Receptors: Location and Structure01:03

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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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Facilitated Diffusion01:16

Facilitated Diffusion

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The plasma membrane, a critical structure in cellular biology, houses an array of transporters, or carrier proteins, interspersed within its lipid bilayer. These proteins play a crucial role in solute transport through facilitated diffusion, a form of passive diffusion that uses transporters to move the molecules across the membrane.
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Diffusion01:12

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Diffusion is the passive movement of substances down their concentration gradients—requiring no expenditure of cellular energy. Substances, such as molecules or ions, diffuse from an area of high concentration to an area of low concentration in the cytosol or across membranes. Eventually, the concentration will even out, with the substance moving randomly but causing no net change in concentration. Such a state is called dynamic equilibrium, which is essential for maintaining overall...
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Related Experiment Video

Updated: Sep 28, 2025

Real-time In Vitro Monitoring of Odorant Receptor Activation by an Odorant in the Vapor Phase
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Real-time In Vitro Monitoring of Odorant Receptor Activation by an Odorant in the Vapor Phase

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Transport features predict if a molecule is odorous.

Emily J Mayhew1, Charles J Arayata2, Richard C Gerkin3

  • 1Department of Food Science and Human Nutrition, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI 48824.

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
|April 4, 2022
PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

Scientists developed a model to predict if a molecule has an odor. This reveals at least 40 billion odorant molecules exist, vastly expanding our understanding of olfactory space.

Keywords:
machine learningodor spaceolfactionphysical transport

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Area of Science:

  • Olfactory science
  • Chemosensation
  • Computational chemistry

Background:

  • The chemical space of odorants is poorly defined, unlike visual and auditory stimuli.
  • Current estimates of odorant numbers are anecdotal and limited to ~10,000.
  • Understanding olfactory space is crucial for studying smell perception.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To develop a quantitative model predicting odorant status based on molecular properties.
  • To estimate the true size of the chemical space of odorants.
  • To define the boundaries of olfactory space.

Main Methods:

  • Developed a predictive model based on molecular volatility and hydrophobicity.
  • Model criteria include air phase entry, mucous layer sorption, and receptor binding pocket entry.
  • Applied the model to a comprehensive database of small organic molecules.

Main Results:

  • The model reliably predicts whether a molecule is odorous or odorless.
  • Estimated at least 40 billion possible odorous compounds.
  • This is six orders of magnitude larger than previous estimates.

Conclusions:

  • Defined the boundaries of olfactory space using molecular properties.
  • Enabled a more comprehensive approach to olfactory stimulus space sampling.
  • The number of potential odorants is vastly underestimated by current knowledge.