title: The electrical properties of olfactory receptors in the development of biological smell sensors.
abstract: We present here the results of the investigation of the electrical properties of two olfactory receptors (ORs): rat, OR I7, and human, OR 17-40, which are of interest in the creation of smell nanobiosensors. Described here is our investigation comparing the results from experiments using electrochemical impedance spectroscopy with the theoretical predictions obtained from a recently developed impedance network protein analog. The changes in the OR response following excitation correlated with the protein conformational change. The satisfactory agreement between theory and experiment points to a promising development of a new class of nanobiosensors based on the electrical properties of sensing proteins.
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Ingegneria dell'Innovazione, Università del Salento, Lecce, Italy.
authors.forename: Eleonora
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Alfinito
authors.forename: Jeremy
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Pousset
authors.forename: Lino
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Reggiani
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D032701:Biomimetics / Q000295:instrumentation*; D004553:Electric Conductivity; D004560:Electricity; D005240:Feasibility Studies; D006801:Humans; D008958:Models, Molecular; D011487:Protein Conformation; D051381:Rats; D018035:Receptors, Odorant / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism*; D012903:Smell
chemical_list: D018035:Receptors, Odorant