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Updated: May 31, 2026

Imaging Odor-Evoked Activities in the Mouse Olfactory Bulb using Optical Reflectance and Autofluorescence Signals
Published on: October 31, 2011
Projection-specific routing of odor information in the olfactory cortex
Simon Daste1, Tuan H Pham1, Max Seppo1
1Department of Neuroscience, Division of Biology and Medicine, Brown University, Providence, RI 02912, USA; Robert J. and Nancy D. Carney Institute for Brain Science, Brown University, Providence, RI 02912, USA.
Abstract:
Sensory processing in the mammalian cortex relies on extensive feedforward and feedback connections, yet how information is routed along these pathways remains poorly understood. Here, we examined the functional properties of feedback and feedforward neurons in the mouse olfactory (piriform) cortex. We selectively labeled neurons projecting to the olfactory bulb (OB, feedback) or medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC, feedforward) and recorded their activity during passive odor exposure and learning of an odor discrimination task. We found that odor identity and reward associations were encoded by OB-projecting ensembles early during odor exposure, whereas mPFC-projecting neurons encoded this information later, aligned with behavioral responses. Moreover, mPFC-projecting neurons exhibited more stable population signals related to reward association across days, whereas OB-projecting neurons showed pronounced experience-dependent reorganization. Together, these findings reveal that odor information is selectively routed through feedforward and feedback pathways and suggest that the functional properties of piriform neurons mirror the computational demands of their downstream targets.
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