title: Odor response properties of rat olfactory receptor neurons.
abstract: Molecular biology studies of olfaction have identified a multigene family of molecular receptors that are likely to be involved in odor transduction mechanisms. However, because previous functional data on peripheral coding were mainly collected from inferior vertebrates, it has been difficult to document the degree of specificity of odor interaction mechanisms. As a matter of fact, studies of the functional expression of olfactory receptors have not demonstrated the low or high specificity of olfactory receptors. In this study, the selectivity of olfactory receptor neurons was investigated in the rat at the cellular level under physiological conditions by unitary extracellular recordings. Individual olfactory receptor neurons were broadly responsive to qualitatively distinct odor compounds. We conclude that peripheral coding is based on activated arrays of olfactory receptor cells with overlapping tuning profiles.
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire de Neurosciences et Systèmes Sensoriels, CNRS, UMR, Université Claude Bernard, 43 boulevard du 11 novembre 1918, 69622 Villeurbanne cedex, France. pduchamp@olfac.univ-lyon1.fr
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Duchamp-Viret
authors.forename: M A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Chaput
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Duchamp
mesh_terms: D000098:Acetophenones; D000200:Action Potentials; D000818:Animals; D000840:Anisoles; D001547:Benzaldehydes; D002164:Camphor; D053138:Cyclohexenes; D000077222:Limonene; D009812:Odorants; D018034:Olfactory Receptor Neurons / Q000502:physiology*; D000439:Pentanols; D051381:Rats; D017208:Rats, Wistar; D018035:Receptors, Odorant / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology*; D013729:Terpenes
chemical_list: D000098:Acetophenones; D000840:Anisoles; D001547:Benzaldehydes; D053138:Cyclohexenes; D000439:Pentanols; D018035:Receptors, Odorant; D013729:Terpenes; D002164:Camphor; D000077222:Limonene; C060998:anisole; C038699:acetophenone; C045941:ethyl vanillin; C020377:isoamyl acetate