Related Experiment Video
Updated: Aug 27, 2025

Testing for Odor Discrimination and Habituation in Mice
Published on: May 5, 2015
Olfaction and Melatonin: The Use of the Olfactory Discrimination Test
Ana Carolina Duarte Noseda1, Marcelo M S Lima2
1Department of Physiology and Pharmacology, Federal University of Paraná (UFPR), Curitiba, PR, Brazil.
Abstract:
In order to investigate the role of melatonin in olfactory function, we present the olfactory discrimination test as a simple and low-cost behavioral assessment. The test consists in evaluating the time that each rat spent in two compartments: one has a familiar odor (sawdust with the smell from the animal) and the other one with an unfamiliar odor (clean sawdust). Animals with the normal olfactory functions will discriminate between these two odors and will spend more time in the familiar compartment. We used the olfactory discrimination test to evaluate the role of melatonin receptors expressed in the olfactory bulb of rats. In a previous study, our results have successfully detected an olfactory modulation, by mean of the olfactory discrimination test, promoted by the infusion of melatonin receptor ligands into the olfactory bulb of rats.
Related Concept Videos
Olfaction
The olfactory receptors are embedded in the cilia of the...
Management of Insomnia
Physiology of Smell and Olfactory Pathway
The olfactory...
The Pineal Gland
The primary secretion of the pineal gland is the hormone melatonin, derived from serotonin. The concentration of melatonin in the...
Olfactory Receptors: Location and Structure
Biological Clocks and Seasonal Responses

