Chemoelectrical signal transduction in olfactory sensory neurons of air-breathing vertebrates.
When odorants bind to the sensory cilia of olfactory sensory neurons, the cells respond with an electrical output signal, typically a short train of action potentials. This review describes the present state of knowledge about the olfactory signal transduction process. In the last decade, a set of transduction molecules has been identified which help to explain many aspects of the sensory response. Odor-induced second-messenger production, activation of transduction channels, the central role of the ciliary Ca2+ concentration, as well as mechanisms that mediate adaptation, are all qualitatively understood on the basis of a consistent scheme for chemoelectrical transduction. This scheme, although necessarily incomplete, can serve as a working model for further experimentation which may reveal kinetical aspects of signal transduction processes in olfactory sensory neurons.
Frings
S
S
Institut für Biologische Informationverarbeitung 1, Forschungszentrum Jülich, Germany. s.frings@fz-juelich.de
D000388:Air; D000818:Animals; D002628:Chemoreceptor Cells / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D009475:Neurons, Afferent / Q000502:physiology*; D011956:Receptors, Cell Surface; D012119:Respiration; D015398:Signal Transduction / Q000502:physiology*; D012903:Smell / Q000502:physiology*; D014714:Vertebrates
D011956:Receptors, Cell Surface