title: A model of cholinergic modulation in olfactory bulb and piriform cortex.
abstract: In this work we investigate in a computational model how cholinergic inputs to the olfactory bulb (OB) and piriform cortex (PC) modulate odor representations. We use experimental data derived from different physiological studies of ACh modulation of the bulbar and cortical circuitry and the interaction between these two areas. The results presented here indicate that cholinergic modulation in the OB significantly increases contrast and synchronization in mitral cell output. Each of these effects is derived from distinct neuronal interactions, with different groups of interneurons playing different roles. Both bulbar modulation effects contribute to more stable learned representations in PC, with pyramidal networks trained with cholinergic-modulated inputs from the bulb exhibiting more robust learning than those trained with unmodulated bulbar inputs. This increased robustness is evidenced as better recovery of memories from corrupted patterns and lower-concentration inputs as well as increased memory capacity.
authors.affiliation: Dept. of Neurobiology and Behavior, Cornell Univ., Ithaca, NY 14853, USA.
authors.forename: Licurgo
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: de Almeida
authors.forename: Marco
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Idiart
authors.forename: Christiane
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Linster
mesh_terms: D000109:Acetylcholine / Q000494:pharmacology*; D000200:Action Potentials / Q000187:drug effects*; D000818:Animals; D059329:Cholinergic Neurons / Q000502:physiology; D007395:Interneurons / Q000502:physiology; D008959:Models, Neurological; D009415:Nerve Net / Q000502:physiology; D009830:Olfactory Bulb / Q000502:physiology*; D018034:Olfactory Receptor Neurons / Q000502:physiology; D017966:Pyramidal Cells / Q000502:physiology
chemical_list: D000109:Acetylcholine