Determination of odour affinities based on the dose-response relationships of the frog's electro-olfactogram

Electro-olfactograms (EOG's) recorded from the frog's olfactory epithelium for 11 substances were used to calculate dissociation constants which in turn serve as an index for the affinity between odorant and receptor site. These constants were calculated with and without a correction for the odour partition between water and air. For a homologous series of 7 n-alcohols these values decrease up to 1-heptanol. The dose-response relationships were based on the peaks of the EOG's since the peak/plateau-ratio was concentration-dependent for some of the substances.