title: A Mathematical Model of the Olfactory Bulb for the Selective Adaptation Mechanism in the Rodent Olfactory System.
abstract: To predict the odor quality of an odorant mixture, the interaction between odorants must be taken into account. Previously, an experiment in which mice discriminated between odorant mixtures identified a selective adaptation mechanism in the olfactory system. This paper proposes an olfactory model for odorant mixtures that can account for selective adaptation in terms of neural activity. The proposed model uses the spatial activity pattern of the mitral layer obtained from model simulations to predict the perceptual similarity between odors. Measured glomerular activity patterns are used as input to the model. The neural interaction between mitral cells and granular cells is then simulated, and a dissimilarity index between odors is defined using the activity patterns of the mitral layer. An odor set composed of three odorants is used to test the ability of the model. Simulations are performed based on the odor discrimination experiment on mice. As a result, we observe that part of the neural activity in the glomerular layer is enhanced in the mitral layer, whereas another part is suppressed. We find that the dissimilarity index strongly correlates with the odor discrimination rate of mice: r = 0.88 (p = 0.019). We conclude that our model has the ability to predict the perceptual similarity of odorant mixtures. In addition, the model also accounts for selective adaptation via the odor discrimination rate, and the enhancement and inhibition in the mitral layer may be related to this selective adaptation.
authors.affiliation: Department of System Cybernetics, Institute of Engineering, Hiroshima University, Higashi-Hiroshima, Japan.
authors.forename: Zu
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0001-7182-9383
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Soh
authors.affiliation: Department of System Cybernetics, Graduate School of Engineering, Hiroshima University, Higashi-Hiroshima, Japan.
authors.forename: Shinya
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Nishikawa
authors.affiliation: Department of System Cybernetics, Institute of Engineering, Hiroshima University, Higashi-Hiroshima, Japan.
authors.forename: Yuichi
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Kurita
authors.affiliation: Division of Material Sciences, Graduate School of Natural Science and Technology, Kanazawa University, Kanazawa, Japan.
authors.forename: Noboru
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Takiguchi
authors.affiliation: Department of System Cybernetics, Institute of Engineering, Hiroshima University, Higashi-Hiroshima, Japan.
authors.forename: Toshio
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Tsuji
mesh_terms: D000222:Adaptation, Physiological; D000818:Animals; D051379:Mice; D008962:Models, Theoretical; D009812:Odorants; D009830:Olfactory Bulb / Q000502:physiology*; D055696:Olfactory Perception / Q000502:physiology*