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Karunanayaka PR, Lu J, Elyan R, Yang QX, Sathian K. Olfactory-trigeminal integration in the primary olfactory cortex. Hum Brain Mapp 2024; 45:e26772. [PMID: 38962966 PMCID: PMC11222875 DOI: 10.1002/hbm.26772] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/20/2023] [Revised: 06/07/2024] [Accepted: 06/16/2024] [Indexed: 07/05/2024] Open
Abstract
Humans naturally integrate signals from the olfactory and intranasal trigeminal systems. A tight interplay has been demonstrated between these two systems, and yet the neural circuitry mediating olfactory-trigeminal (OT) integration remains poorly understood. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), combined with psychophysics, this study investigated the neural mechanisms underlying OT integration. Fifteen participants with normal olfactory function performed a localization task with air-puff stimuli, phenylethyl alcohol (PEA; rose odor), or a combination thereof while being scanned. The ability to localize PEA to either nostril was at chance. Yet, its presence significantly improved the localization accuracy of weak, but not strong, air-puffs, when both stimuli were delivered concurrently to the same nostril, but not when different nostrils received the two stimuli. This enhancement in localization accuracy, exemplifying the principles of spatial coincidence and inverse effectiveness in multisensory integration, was associated with multisensory integrative activity in the primary olfactory (POC), orbitofrontal (OFC), superior temporal (STC), inferior parietal (IPC) and cingulate cortices, and in the cerebellum. Multisensory enhancement in most of these regions correlated with behavioral multisensory enhancement, as did increases in connectivity between some of these regions. We interpret these findings as indicating that the POC is part of a distributed brain network mediating integration between the olfactory and trigeminal systems. PRACTITIONER POINTS: Psychophysical and neuroimaging study of olfactory-trigeminal (OT) integration. Behavior, cortical activity, and network connectivity show OT integration. OT integration obeys principles of inverse effectiveness and spatial coincidence. Behavioral and neural measures of OT integration are correlated.
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Affiliation(s)
- Prasanna R. Karunanayaka
- Department of RadiologyPennsylvania State University College of MedicineHersheyPennsylvaniaUSA
- Department of Neural and Behavioral SciencesPennsylvania State University College of MedicineHersheyPennsylvaniaUSA
- Department of Public Health SciencesPennsylvania State University College of MedicineHersheyPennsylvaniaUSA
| | - Jiaming Lu
- Department of RadiologyPennsylvania State University College of MedicineHersheyPennsylvaniaUSA
- Drum Tower HospitalMedical School of Nanjing UniversityNanjingChina
| | - Rommy Elyan
- Department of RadiologyPennsylvania State University College of MedicineHersheyPennsylvaniaUSA
| | - Qing X. Yang
- Department of RadiologyPennsylvania State University College of MedicineHersheyPennsylvaniaUSA
- Department of NeurosurgeryPennsylvania State University College of MedicineHersheyPennsylvaniaUSA
| | - K. Sathian
- Department of Neural and Behavioral SciencesPennsylvania State University College of MedicineHersheyPennsylvaniaUSA
- Department of NeurologyPenn State Health Milton S. Hershey Medical CenterHersheyPennsylvaniaUSA
- Department of PsychologyPennsylvania State University College of Liberal ArtsState CollegePennsylvaniaUSA
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2
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Fulton KA, Zimmerman D, Samuel A, Vogt K, Datta SR. Common principles for odour coding across vertebrates and invertebrates. Nat Rev Neurosci 2024; 25:453-472. [PMID: 38806946 DOI: 10.1038/s41583-024-00822-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 04/30/2024] [Indexed: 05/30/2024]
Abstract
The olfactory system is an ideal and tractable system for exploring how the brain transforms sensory inputs into behaviour. The basic tasks of any olfactory system include odour detection, discrimination and categorization. The challenge for the olfactory system is to transform the high-dimensional space of olfactory stimuli into the much smaller space of perceived objects and valence that endows odours with meaning. Our current understanding of how neural circuits address this challenge has come primarily from observations of the mechanisms of the brain for processing other sensory modalities, such as vision and hearing, in which optimized deep hierarchical circuits are used to extract sensory features that vary along continuous physical dimensions. The olfactory system, by contrast, contends with an ill-defined, high-dimensional stimulus space and discrete stimuli using a circuit architecture that is shallow and parallelized. Here, we present recent observations in vertebrate and invertebrate systems that relate the statistical structure and state-dependent modulation of olfactory codes to mechanisms of perception and odour-guided behaviour.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kara A Fulton
- Department of Neuroscience, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
| | - David Zimmerman
- Department of Physics, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA
| | - Aravi Samuel
- Department of Physics, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA
| | - Katrin Vogt
- Department of Physics, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA.
- Department of Biology, University of Konstanz, Konstanz, Germany.
- Centre for the Advanced Study of Collective Behaviour, University of Konstanz, Konstanz, Germany.
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3
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A Dehaqani A, Michelon F, Patella P, Petrucco L, Piasini E, Iurilli G. A mechanosensory feedback that uncouples external and self-generated sensory responses in the olfactory cortex. Cell Rep 2024; 43:114013. [PMID: 38551962 DOI: 10.1016/j.celrep.2024.114013] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/28/2023] [Revised: 12/20/2023] [Accepted: 03/13/2024] [Indexed: 04/28/2024] Open
Abstract
Sampling behaviors have sensory consequences that can hinder perceptual stability. In olfaction, sniffing affects early odor encoding, mimicking a sudden change in odor concentration. We examined how the inhalation speed affects the representation of odor concentration in the main olfactory cortex. Neurons combine the odor input with a global top-down signal preceding the sniff and a mechanosensory feedback generated by the air passage through the nose during inhalation. Still, the population representation of concentration is remarkably sniff invariant. This is because the mechanosensory and olfactory responses are uncorrelated within and across neurons. Thus, faster odor inhalation and an increase in concentration change the cortical activity pattern in distinct ways. This encoding strategy affords tolerance to potential concentration fluctuations caused by varying inhalation speeds. Since mechanosensory reafferences are widespread across sensory systems, the coding scheme described here may be a canonical strategy to mitigate the sensory ambiguities caused by movements.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alireza A Dehaqani
- Center for Neuroscience and Cognitive Systems, Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia, 38068 Rovereto, Italy; CIMeC, University of Trento, 38068 Rovereto, Italy
| | - Filippo Michelon
- Center for Neuroscience and Cognitive Systems, Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia, 38068 Rovereto, Italy; CIMeC, University of Trento, 38068 Rovereto, Italy
| | - Paola Patella
- Center for Neuroscience and Cognitive Systems, Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia, 38068 Rovereto, Italy
| | - Luigi Petrucco
- Center for Neuroscience and Cognitive Systems, Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia, 38068 Rovereto, Italy
| | - Eugenio Piasini
- International School for Advanced Studies (SISSA), Trieste, Italy
| | - Giuliano Iurilli
- Center for Neuroscience and Cognitive Systems, Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia, 38068 Rovereto, Italy.
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4
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Gumaste A, Baker KL, Izydorczak M, True AC, Vasan G, Crimaldi JP, Verhagen J. Behavioral discrimination and olfactory bulb encoding of odor plume intermittency. eLife 2024; 13:e85303. [PMID: 38441541 PMCID: PMC11001298 DOI: 10.7554/elife.85303] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/01/2022] [Accepted: 03/04/2024] [Indexed: 04/09/2024] Open
Abstract
In order to survive, animals often need to navigate a complex odor landscape where odors can exist in airborne plumes. Several odor plume properties change with distance from the odor source, providing potential navigational cues to searching animals. Here, we focus on odor intermittency, a temporal odor plume property that measures the fraction of time odor is above a threshold at a given point within the plume and decreases with increasing distance from the odor source. We sought to determine if mice can use changes in intermittency to locate an odor source. To do so, we trained mice on an intermittency discrimination task. We establish that mice can discriminate odor plume samples of low and high intermittency and that the neural responses in the olfactory bulb can account for task performance and support intermittency encoding. Modulation of sniffing, a behavioral parameter that is highly dynamic during odor-guided navigation, affects both behavioral outcome on the intermittency discrimination task and neural representation of intermittency. Together, this work demonstrates that intermittency is an odor plume property that can inform olfactory search and more broadly supports the notion that mammalian odor-based navigation can be guided by temporal odor plume properties.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ankita Gumaste
- Interdepartmental Neuroscience Program, Yale UniversityNew HavenUnited States
- John B. Pierce LaboratoryNew HavenUnited States
- Department of Neuroscience, Yale School of MedicineNew HavenUnited States
| | - Keeley L Baker
- John B. Pierce LaboratoryNew HavenUnited States
- Department of Neuroscience, Yale School of MedicineNew HavenUnited States
| | | | - Aaron C True
- Department of Civil, Environmental and Architectural Engineering, University of ColoradoBoulderUnited States
| | | | - John P Crimaldi
- Department of Civil, Environmental and Architectural Engineering, University of ColoradoBoulderUnited States
| | - Justus Verhagen
- Interdepartmental Neuroscience Program, Yale UniversityNew HavenUnited States
- John B. Pierce LaboratoryNew HavenUnited States
- Department of Neuroscience, Yale School of MedicineNew HavenUnited States
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5
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Verhagen JV, Baker KL, Vasan G, Pieribone VA, Rolls ET. Odor encoding by signals in the olfactory bulb. J Neurophysiol 2023; 129:431-444. [PMID: 36598147 PMCID: PMC9925169 DOI: 10.1152/jn.00449.2022] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/15/2022] [Revised: 12/21/2022] [Accepted: 12/22/2022] [Indexed: 01/05/2023] Open
Abstract
To understand the operation of the olfactory system, it is essential to know how information is encoded in the olfactory bulb. We applied Shannon information theoretic methods to address this, with signals from up to 57 glomeruli simultaneously optically imaged from presynaptic inputs in glomeruli in the mouse dorsal (dOB) and lateral (lOB) olfactory bulb, in response to six exemplar pure chemical odors. We discovered that, first, the tuning of these signals from glomeruli to a set of odors is remarkably broad, with a mean sparseness of 0.83 and a mean signal correlation of 0.64. Second, both of these factors contribute to the low information that is available from the responses of even populations of many tens of glomeruli, which was only 1.35 bits across 33 glomeruli on average, compared with the 2.58 bits required to perfectly encode these six odors. Third, although there is considerable interest in the possibility of temporal encoding of stimulus including odor identity, the amount of information in the temporal aspects of the presynaptic glomerular responses was low (mean 0.11 bits) and, importantly, was redundant with respect to the information available from the rates. Fourth, the information from simultaneously recorded glomeruli asymptotes very gradually and nonlinearly, showing that glomeruli do not have independent responses. Fifth, the information from a population became available quite rapidly, within 100 ms of sniff onset, and the peak of the glomerular response was at 200 ms. Sixth, the information from the lOB was not additive with that of the dOB.NEW & NOTEWORTHY We report broad tuning and low odor information available across the lateral and dorsal bulb populations of glomeruli. Even though response latencies can be significantly predictive of stimulus identity, such contained very little information and none that was not redundant with information based on rate coding alone. Last, in line with the emerging notion of the important role of earliest stages of responses ("primacy"), we report a very rapid rise in information after each inhalation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Justus V Verhagen
- The John B. Pierce Laboratory, New Haven, Connecticut
- Department of Neuroscience, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut
| | - Keeley L Baker
- The John B. Pierce Laboratory, New Haven, Connecticut
- Department of Neuroscience, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut
| | - Ganesh Vasan
- The John B. Pierce Laboratory, New Haven, Connecticut
- Department of Neuroscience, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut
| | - Vincent A Pieribone
- The John B. Pierce Laboratory, New Haven, Connecticut
- Department of Neuroscience, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut
- Department of Cellular and Molecular Physiology, Yale School of Medicine, New Haven, Connecticut
| | - Edmund T Rolls
- Oxford Centre for Computational Neuroscience, Oxford, United Kingdom
- University of Warwick, Coventry, United Kingdom
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6
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Dasgupta D, Warner TPA, Erskine A, Schaefer AT. Coupling of Mouse Olfactory Bulb Projection Neurons to Fluctuating Odor Pulses. J Neurosci 2022; 42:4278-4296. [PMID: 35440491 PMCID: PMC9145232 DOI: 10.1523/jneurosci.1422-21.2022] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/11/2021] [Revised: 03/24/2022] [Accepted: 03/29/2022] [Indexed: 11/28/2022] Open
Abstract
Odors are transported by turbulent air currents, creating complex temporal fluctuations in odor concentration that provide a potentially informative stimulus dimension. We have shown that mice are able to discriminate odor stimuli based on their temporal structure, indicating that information contained in the temporal structure of odor plumes can be extracted by the mouse olfactory system. Here, using in vivo extracellular and intracellular electrophysiological recordings, we show that mitral cells (MCs) and tufted cells (TCs) of the male C57BL/6 mouse olfactory bulb can encode the dominant temporal frequencies present in odor stimuli up to at least 20 Hz. A substantial population of cell-odor pairs showed significant coupling of their subthreshold membrane potential with the odor stimulus at both 2 Hz (29/70) and the suprasniff frequency 20 Hz (24/70). Furthermore, mitral/tufted cells (M/TCs) show differential coupling of their membrane potential to odor concentration fluctuations with tufted cells coupling more strongly for the 20 Hz stimulation. Frequency coupling was always observed to be invariant to odor identity, and M/TCs that coupled well to a mixture also coupled to at least one of the components of the mixture. Interestingly, pharmacological blocking of the inhibitory circuitry strongly modulated frequency coupling of cell-odor pairs at both 2 Hz (10/15) and 20 Hz (9/15). These results provide insight into how both cellular and circuit properties contribute to the encoding of temporal odor features in the mouse olfactory bulb.SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT Odors in the natural environment have a strong temporal structure that can be extracted and used by mice in their behavior. Here, using in vivo extracellular and intracellular electrophysiological techniques, we show that the projection neurons in the olfactory bulb can encode and couple to the dominant frequency present in an odor stimulus. Furthermore, frequency coupling was observed to be differential between mitral and tufted cells and was odor invariant but strongly modulated by local inhibitory circuits. In summary, this study provides insight into how both cellular and circuit properties modulate encoding of odor temporal features in the mouse olfactory bulb.
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Affiliation(s)
- Debanjan Dasgupta
- Sensory Circuits and Neurotechnology Laboratory, Francis Crick Institute, London NW1 1AT, United Kingdom
- Department of Neuroscience, Physiology and Pharmacology, University College London, London WC1E 6BT, United Kingdom
| | - Tom P A Warner
- Sensory Circuits and Neurotechnology Laboratory, Francis Crick Institute, London NW1 1AT, United Kingdom
| | - Andrew Erskine
- Sensory Circuits and Neurotechnology Laboratory, Francis Crick Institute, London NW1 1AT, United Kingdom
| | - Andreas T Schaefer
- Sensory Circuits and Neurotechnology Laboratory, Francis Crick Institute, London NW1 1AT, United Kingdom
- Department of Neuroscience, Physiology and Pharmacology, University College London, London WC1E 6BT, United Kingdom
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7
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Active sensing in a dynamic olfactory world. J Comput Neurosci 2021; 50:1-6. [PMID: 34591220 DOI: 10.1007/s10827-021-00798-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/28/2021] [Revised: 08/27/2021] [Accepted: 09/22/2021] [Indexed: 10/20/2022]
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8
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E-Nose and Olfactory Assessment: Teamwork or a Challenge to the Last Data? The Case of Virgin Olive Oil Stability and Shelf Life. APPLIED SCIENCES-BASEL 2021. [DOI: 10.3390/app11188453] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/12/2022]
Abstract
Electronic nose (E-nose) devices represent one of the most trailblazing innovations in current technological research, since mimicking the functioning of the biological sense of smell has always represented a fascinating challenge for technological development applied to life sciences and beyond. Sensor array tools are right now used in a plethora of applications, including, but not limited to, (bio-)medical, environmental, and food industry related. In particular, the food industry has seen a significant rise in the application of technological tools for determining the quality of edibles, progressively replacing human panelists, therefore changing the whole quality control chain in the field. To this end, the present review, conducted on PubMed, Science Direct and Web of Science, screening papers published between January 2010 and May 2021, sought to investigate the current trends in the usage of human panels and sensorized tools (E-nose and similar) in the food industry, comparing the performances between the two different approaches. In particular, the focus was mainly addressed towards the stability and shelf life assessment of olive oil, the main constituent of the renowned “Mediterranean diet”, and nowadays appreciated in cuisines from all around the world. The obtained results demonstrate that, despite the satisfying performances of both approaches, the best strategy merges the potentialities of human sensory panels and technological sensor arrays, (i.e., E-nose somewhat supported by E-tongue and/or E-eye). The current investigation can be used as a reference for future guidance towards the choice between human panelists and sensorized tools, to the benefit of food manufacturers.
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9
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Martelli C, Storace DA. Stimulus Driven Functional Transformations in the Early Olfactory System. Front Cell Neurosci 2021; 15:684742. [PMID: 34413724 PMCID: PMC8369031 DOI: 10.3389/fncel.2021.684742] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/23/2021] [Accepted: 07/06/2021] [Indexed: 11/17/2022] Open
Abstract
Olfactory stimuli are encountered across a wide range of odor concentrations in natural environments. Defining the neural computations that support concentration invariant odor perception, odor discrimination, and odor-background segmentation across a wide range of stimulus intensities remains an open question in the field. In principle, adaptation could allow the olfactory system to adjust sensory representations to the current stimulus conditions, a well-known process in other sensory systems. However, surprisingly little is known about how adaptation changes olfactory representations and affects perception. Here we review the current understanding of how adaptation impacts processing in the first two stages of the vertebrate olfactory system, olfactory receptor neurons (ORNs), and mitral/tufted cells.
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Affiliation(s)
- Carlotta Martelli
- Institute of Developmental Biology and Neurobiology, University of Mainz, Mainz, Germany
| | - Douglas Anthony Storace
- Department of Biological Science, Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL, United States
- Program in Neuroscience, Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL, United States
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10
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Manzini I, Schild D, Di Natale C. Principles of odor coding in vertebrates and artificial chemosensory systems. Physiol Rev 2021; 102:61-154. [PMID: 34254835 DOI: 10.1152/physrev.00036.2020] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/12/2022] Open
Abstract
The biological olfactory system is the sensory system responsible for the detection of the chemical composition of the environment. Several attempts to mimic biological olfactory systems have led to various artificial olfactory systems using different technical approaches. Here we provide a parallel description of biological olfactory systems and their technical counterparts. We start with a presentation of the input to the systems, the stimuli, and treat the interface between the external world and the environment where receptor neurons or artificial chemosensors reside. We then delineate the functions of receptor neurons and chemosensors as well as their overall I-O relationships. Up to this point, our account of the systems goes along similar lines. The next processing steps differ considerably: while in biology the processing step following the receptor neurons is the "integration" and "processing" of receptor neuron outputs in the olfactory bulb, this step has various realizations in electronic noses. For a long period of time, the signal processing stages beyond the olfactory bulb, i.e., the higher olfactory centers were little studied. Only recently there has been a marked growth of studies tackling the information processing in these centers. In electronic noses, a third stage of processing has virtually never been considered. In this review, we provide an up-to-date overview of the current knowledge of both fields and, for the first time, attempt to tie them together. We hope it will be a breeding ground for better information, communication, and data exchange between very related but so far little connected fields.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ivan Manzini
- Animal Physiology and Molecular Biomedicine, Justus-Liebig-University Gießen, Gießen, Germany
| | - Detlev Schild
- Institute of Neurophysiology and Cellular Biophysics, University Medical Center, University of Göttingen, Göttingen, Germany
| | - Corrado Di Natale
- Department of Electronic Engineering, University of Rome Tor Vergata, Rome, Italy
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11
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Findley TM, Wyrick DG, Cramer JL, Brown MA, Holcomb B, Attey R, Yeh D, Monasevitch E, Nouboussi N, Cullen I, Songco JO, King JF, Ahmadian Y, Smear MC. Sniff-synchronized, gradient-guided olfactory search by freely moving mice. eLife 2021; 10:e58523. [PMID: 33942713 PMCID: PMC8169121 DOI: 10.7554/elife.58523] [Citation(s) in RCA: 22] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/03/2020] [Accepted: 04/22/2021] [Indexed: 01/18/2023] Open
Abstract
For many organisms, searching for relevant targets such as food or mates entails active, strategic sampling of the environment. Finding odorous targets may be the most ancient search problem that motile organisms evolved to solve. While chemosensory navigation has been well characterized in microorganisms and invertebrates, spatial olfaction in vertebrates is poorly understood. We have established an olfactory search assay in which freely moving mice navigate noisy concentration gradients of airborne odor. Mice solve this task using concentration gradient cues and do not require stereo olfaction for performance. During task performance, respiration and nose movement are synchronized with tens of milliseconds precision. This synchrony is present during trials and largely absent during inter-trial intervals, suggesting that sniff-synchronized nose movement is a strategic behavioral state rather than simply a constant accompaniment to fast breathing. To reveal the spatiotemporal structure of these active sensing movements, we used machine learning methods to parse motion trajectories into elementary movement motifs. Motifs fall into two clusters, which correspond to investigation and approach states. Investigation motifs lock precisely to sniffing, such that the individual motifs preferentially occur at specific phases of the sniff cycle. The allocentric structure of investigation and approach indicates an advantage to sampling both sides of the sharpest part of the odor gradient, consistent with a serial-sniff strategy for gradient sensing. This work clarifies sensorimotor strategies for mouse olfactory search and guides ongoing work into the underlying neural mechanisms.
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Affiliation(s)
- Teresa M Findley
- Department of Biology and Institute of Neuroscience, University of OregonEugeneUnited States
| | - David G Wyrick
- Department of Biology and Institute of Neuroscience, University of OregonEugeneUnited States
| | - Jennifer L Cramer
- Department of Psychology and Institute of Neuroscience, University of OregonEugeneUnited States
| | - Morgan A Brown
- Department of Psychology and Institute of Neuroscience, University of OregonEugeneUnited States
| | - Blake Holcomb
- Department of Psychology and Institute of Neuroscience, University of OregonEugeneUnited States
| | - Robin Attey
- Department of Psychology and Institute of Neuroscience, University of OregonEugeneUnited States
| | - Dorian Yeh
- Department of Psychology and Institute of Neuroscience, University of OregonEugeneUnited States
| | - Eric Monasevitch
- Department of Psychology and Institute of Neuroscience, University of OregonEugeneUnited States
| | - Nelly Nouboussi
- Department of Psychology and Institute of Neuroscience, University of OregonEugeneUnited States
| | - Isabelle Cullen
- Department of Psychology and Institute of Neuroscience, University of OregonEugeneUnited States
| | - Jeremea O Songco
- Department of Biology and Institute of Neuroscience, University of OregonEugeneUnited States
| | - Jared F King
- Department of Psychology and Institute of Neuroscience, University of OregonEugeneUnited States
| | - Yashar Ahmadian
- Department of Biology and Institute of Neuroscience, University of OregonEugeneUnited States
- Computational & Biological Learning Lab, University of CambridgeCambridgeUnited Kingdom
| | - Matthew C Smear
- Department of Psychology and Institute of Neuroscience, University of OregonEugeneUnited States
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12
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Marin AC, Schaefer AT, Ackels T. Spatial information from the odour environment in mammalian olfaction. Cell Tissue Res 2021; 383:473-483. [PMID: 33515294 PMCID: PMC7872987 DOI: 10.1007/s00441-020-03395-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/09/2020] [Accepted: 12/10/2020] [Indexed: 11/24/2022]
Abstract
The sense of smell is an essential modality for many species, in particular nocturnal and crepuscular mammals, to gather information about their environment. Olfactory cues provide information over a large range of distances, allowing behaviours ranging from simple detection and recognition of objects, to tracking trails and navigating using odour plumes from afar. In this review, we discuss the features of the natural olfactory environment and provide a brief overview of how odour information can be sampled and might be represented and processed by the mammalian olfactory system. Finally, we discuss recent behavioural approaches that address how mammals extract spatial information from the environment in three different contexts: odour trail tracking, odour plume tracking and, more general, olfactory-guided navigation. Recent technological developments have seen the spatiotemporal aspect of mammalian olfaction gain significant attention, and we discuss both the promising aspects of rapidly developing paradigms and stimulus control technologies as well as their limitations. We conclude that, while still in its beginnings, research on the odour environment offers an entry point into understanding the mechanisms how mammals extract information about space.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alina Cristina Marin
- Sensory Circuits and Neurotechnology Laboratory, The Francis Crick Institute, London, UK
- Department of Neuroscience, Physiology & Pharmacology, University College London, London, UK
| | - Andreas T Schaefer
- Sensory Circuits and Neurotechnology Laboratory, The Francis Crick Institute, London, UK.
- Department of Neuroscience, Physiology & Pharmacology, University College London, London, UK.
| | - Tobias Ackels
- Sensory Circuits and Neurotechnology Laboratory, The Francis Crick Institute, London, UK.
- Department of Neuroscience, Physiology & Pharmacology, University College London, London, UK.
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13
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Losacco J, George NM, Hiratani N, Restrepo D. The Olfactory Bulb Facilitates Use of Category Bounds for Classification of Odorants in Different Intensity Groups. Front Cell Neurosci 2020; 14:613635. [PMID: 33362477 PMCID: PMC7759615 DOI: 10.3389/fncel.2020.613635] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/02/2020] [Accepted: 11/16/2020] [Indexed: 11/22/2022] Open
Abstract
Signal processing of odor inputs to the olfactory bulb (OB) changes through top-down modulation whose shaping of neural rhythms in response to changes in stimulus intensity is not understood. Here we asked whether the representation of a high vs. low intensity odorant in the OB by oscillatory neural activity changed as the animal learned to discriminate odorant concentration ranges in a go-no go task. We trained mice to discriminate between high vs. low concentration odorants by learning to lick to the rewarded group (low or high). We recorded the local field potential (LFP) in the OB of these mice and calculated the theta-referenced beta or gamma oscillation power (theta phase-referenced power, or tPRP). We found that as the mouse learned to differentiate odorant concentrations, tPRP diverged between trials for the rewarded vs. the unrewarded concentration range. For the proficient animal, linear discriminant analysis was able to predict the rewarded odorant group and the performance of this classifier correlated with the percent correct behavior in the odor concentration discrimination task. Interestingly, the behavioral response and decoding accuracy were asymmetric as a function of concentration when the rewarded stimulus was shifted between the high and low odorant concentration ranges. A model for decision making motivated by the statistics of OB activity that uses a single threshold in a logarithmic concentration scale displays this asymmetry. Taken together with previous studies on the intensity criteria for decisions on odorant concentrations, our finding suggests that OB oscillatory events facilitate decision making to classify concentrations using a single intensity criterion.
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Affiliation(s)
- Justin Losacco
- Neuroscience Graduate Program, University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, Aurora, CO, United States
- Department of Cell and Developmental Biology, University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, Aurora, CO, United States
| | - Nicholas M. George
- Neuroscience Graduate Program, University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, Aurora, CO, United States
- Department of Cell and Developmental Biology, University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, Aurora, CO, United States
| | - Naoki Hiratani
- Gatsby Computational Neuroscience Unit, University College London, London, United Kingdom
| | - Diego Restrepo
- Neuroscience Graduate Program, University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, Aurora, CO, United States
- Department of Cell and Developmental Biology, University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, Aurora, CO, United States
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14
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Yao F, Ye Y, Zhou W. Nasal airflow engages central olfactory processing and shapes olfactory percepts. Proc Biol Sci 2020; 287:20201772. [PMID: 33109009 DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2020.1772] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
Binding of airborne odour molecules to olfactory receptors at the top of the nasal cavity gives rise to our rich olfactory experience. Whether airflow plays a role in human olfactory perception beyond the transportation of odorants is scantly known. Combining psychophysical measures with strict controls of nasal flow parameters, we demonstrate in four experiments that the perceived intensity of a unilaterally presented odour decreases systematically with the amount of contralateral nasal airflow, in manners that are independent of odour flow rate, nasal pressure, perceived sniff vigour or attentional allocation. Moreover, the effect is due to the sensed rather than the factual amount of nasal flow, as applying a local anaesthetic to the contralateral nostril produces the same effect as physically blocking it. Our findings indicate that nasal flow spontaneously engages central olfactory processing and serves as an integral part of the olfactory percept in humans.
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Affiliation(s)
- Fangshu Yao
- State Key Laboratory of Brain and Cognitive Science, Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, People's Republic of China.,Department of Psychology, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, People's Republic of China
| | - Yuting Ye
- State Key Laboratory of Brain and Cognitive Science, Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, People's Republic of China.,Department of Psychology, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, People's Republic of China
| | - Wen Zhou
- State Key Laboratory of Brain and Cognitive Science, Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, People's Republic of China.,Department of Psychology, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, People's Republic of China.,Chinese Institute for Brain Research, Beijing 102206, People's Republic of China
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15
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Bhattacharjee AS, Konakamchi S, Turaev D, Vincis R, Nunes D, Dingankar AA, Spors H, Carleton A, Kuner T, Abraham NM. Similarity and Strength of Glomerular Odor Representations Define a Neural Metric of Sniff-Invariant Discrimination Time. Cell Rep 2020; 28:2966-2978.e5. [PMID: 31509755 PMCID: PMC7115995 DOI: 10.1016/j.celrep.2019.08.015] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/14/2019] [Revised: 05/14/2019] [Accepted: 07/31/2019] [Indexed: 12/01/2022] Open
Abstract
The olfactory environment is first represented by glomerular activity patterns in the olfactory bulb. It remains unclear how these representations intersect with sampling behavior to account for the time required to discriminate odors. Using different chemical classes, we investigate glomerular representations and sniffing behavior during olfactory decision-making. Mice rapidly discriminate odorants and learn to increase sniffing frequency at a fixed latency after trial initiation, independent of odor identity. Relative to the increase in sniffing frequency, monomolecular odorants are discriminated within 10-40 ms, while binary mixtures require an additional 60-70 ms. Intrinsic imaging of glomerular activity in anesthetized and awake mice reveals that Euclidean distance between activity patterns and the time needed for discriminations are anti-correlated. Therefore, the similarity of glomerular patterns and their activation strengths, rather than sampling behavior, define the extent of neuronal processing required for odor discrimination, establishing a neural metric to predict olfactory discrimination time.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Sasank Konakamchi
- Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER), Pune, Maharashtra 411008, India
| | - Dmitrij Turaev
- WIN Olfactory Dynamics Group, Max Planck Institute for Medical Research, Jahnstrasse 29, 69120 Heidelberg, Germany; Department of Molecular Neurogenetics, Max-Planck-Institute of Biophysics, Max-von-Laue-Strasse 3, 60438 Frankfurt am Main, Germany
| | - Roberto Vincis
- Department of Basic Neurosciences, School of Medicine, University of Geneva, 1 rue Michel-Servet, 1211 Genève 4, Switzerland
| | - Daniel Nunes
- Institute of Anatomy and Cell Biology, Heidelberg University, INF 307, 69120 Heidelberg, Germany
| | - Atharva A Dingankar
- Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER), Pune, Maharashtra 411008, India
| | - Hartwig Spors
- WIN Olfactory Dynamics Group, Max Planck Institute for Medical Research, Jahnstrasse 29, 69120 Heidelberg, Germany; Department of Molecular Neurogenetics, Max-Planck-Institute of Biophysics, Max-von-Laue-Strasse 3, 60438 Frankfurt am Main, Germany
| | - Alan Carleton
- Department of Basic Neurosciences, School of Medicine, University of Geneva, 1 rue Michel-Servet, 1211 Genève 4, Switzerland
| | - Thomas Kuner
- Institute of Anatomy and Cell Biology, Heidelberg University, INF 307, 69120 Heidelberg, Germany; WIN Olfactory Dynamics Group, Max Planck Institute for Medical Research, Jahnstrasse 29, 69120 Heidelberg, Germany
| | - Nixon M Abraham
- Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER), Pune, Maharashtra 411008, India; Institute of Anatomy and Cell Biology, Heidelberg University, INF 307, 69120 Heidelberg, Germany; WIN Olfactory Dynamics Group, Max Planck Institute for Medical Research, Jahnstrasse 29, 69120 Heidelberg, Germany; Department of Basic Neurosciences, School of Medicine, University of Geneva, 1 rue Michel-Servet, 1211 Genève 4, Switzerland.
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16
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Reisert J, Golden GJ, Dibattista M, Gelperin A. Dynamics of odor sampling strategies in mice. PLoS One 2020; 15:e0237756. [PMID: 32797072 PMCID: PMC7428156 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0237756] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/25/2020] [Accepted: 07/31/2020] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Mammalian olfactory receptor neurons in the nasal cavity are stimulated by odorants carried by the inhaled air and their activation is therefore tied to and driven by the breathing or sniffing frequency. Sniffing frequency can be deliberately modulated to alter how odorants stimulate olfactory receptor neurons, giving the animal control over the frequency of odorant exposure to potentially aid odorant detection and discrimination. We monitored sniffing behaviors and odorant discrimination ability of freely-moving mice while they sampled either decreasing concentrations of target odorants or sampled a fixed target odorant concentration in the presence of a background of increasing odorant concentrations, using a Go-NoGo behavioral paradigm. This allowed us to ask how mice alter their odorant sampling duration and sampling (sniffing) frequency depending on the demands of the task and its difficulty. Mice showed an anticipatory increase in sniffing rate prior to odorant exposure and chose to sample for longer durations when exposed to odorants as compared to the solvent control odorant. Similarly, mice also took more odorant sampling sniffs when exposed to target odorants compared to the solvent control odorant. In general, odorant sampling strategies became more similar the more difficult the task was, e.g. the lower the target odorant concentration or the lower the target odorant contrast relative to the background odorant, suggesting that sniffing patterns are not preset, but are dynamically modulated by the particular task and its difficulty.
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Affiliation(s)
- Johannes Reisert
- Monell Chemical Senses Center, Philadelphia, PA, United States of America
| | - Glen J. Golden
- Monell Chemical Senses Center, Philadelphia, PA, United States of America
| | - Michele Dibattista
- Department of Basic Medical Sciences, Neuroscience and Sensory Organs, University of Bari “A. Moro”, Bari, Italy
| | - Alan Gelperin
- Department of Neuroscience, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, United States of America
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17
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Parker PRL, Brown MA, Smear MC, Niell CM. Movement-Related Signals in Sensory Areas: Roles in Natural Behavior. Trends Neurosci 2020; 43:581-595. [PMID: 32580899 PMCID: PMC8000520 DOI: 10.1016/j.tins.2020.05.005] [Citation(s) in RCA: 66] [Impact Index Per Article: 16.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/25/2020] [Revised: 05/02/2020] [Accepted: 05/24/2020] [Indexed: 11/24/2022]
Abstract
Recent studies have demonstrated prominent and widespread movement-related signals in the brain of head-fixed mice, even in primary sensory areas. However, it is still unknown what role these signals play in sensory processing. Why are these sensory areas 'contaminated' by movement signals? During natural behavior, animals actively acquire sensory information as they move through the environment and use this information to guide ongoing actions. In this context, movement-related signals could allow sensory systems to predict self-induced sensory changes and extract additional information about the environment. In this review we summarize recent findings on the presence of movement-related signals in sensory areas and discuss how their study, in the context of natural freely moving behaviors, could advance models of sensory processing.
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Affiliation(s)
- Philip R L Parker
- Institute of Neuroscience, University of Oregon, Eugene, OR 97403, USA.
| | - Morgan A Brown
- Institute of Neuroscience, University of Oregon, Eugene, OR 97403, USA
| | - Matthew C Smear
- Institute of Neuroscience, University of Oregon, Eugene, OR 97403, USA; Department of Psychology, University of Oregon, Eugene, OR 97403, USA
| | - Cristopher M Niell
- Institute of Neuroscience, University of Oregon, Eugene, OR 97403, USA; Department of Biology, University of Oregon, Eugene, OR 97403, USA.
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18
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Ackels T, Jordan R, Schaefer AT, Fukunaga I. Respiration-Locking of Olfactory Receptor and Projection Neurons in the Mouse Olfactory Bulb and Its Modulation by Brain State. Front Cell Neurosci 2020; 14:220. [PMID: 32765224 PMCID: PMC7378796 DOI: 10.3389/fncel.2020.00220] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/24/2020] [Accepted: 06/22/2020] [Indexed: 01/10/2023] Open
Abstract
For sensory systems of the brain, the dynamics of an animal’s own sampling behavior has a direct consequence on ensuing computations. This is particularly the case for mammalian olfaction, where a rhythmic flow of air over the nasal epithelium entrains activity in olfactory system neurons in a phenomenon known as sniff-locking. Parameters of sniffing can, however, change drastically with brain states. Coupled to the fact that different observation methods have different kinetics, consensus on the sniff-locking properties of neurons is lacking. To address this, we investigated the sniff-related activity of olfactory sensory neurons (OSNs), as well as the principal neurons of the olfactory bulb (OB), using 2-photon calcium imaging and intracellular whole-cell patch-clamp recordings in vivo, both in anesthetized and awake mice. Our results indicate that OSNs and OB output neurons lock robustly to the sniff rhythm, but with a slight temporal shift between behavioral states. We also observed a slight delay between methods. Further, the divergent sniff-locking by tufted cells (TCs) and mitral cells (MCs) in the absence of odor can be used to determine the cell type reliably using a simple linear classifier. Using this classification on datasets where morphological identification is unavailable, we find that MCs use a wider range of temporal shifts to encode odors than previously thought, while TCs have a constrained timing of activation due to an early-onset hyperpolarization. We conclude that the sniff rhythm serves as a fundamental rhythm but its impact on odor encoding depends on cell type, and this difference is accentuated in awake mice.
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Affiliation(s)
- Tobias Ackels
- Neurophysiology of Behaviour Laboratory, The Francis Crick Institute, London, United Kingdom.,Department of Neuroscience, Physiology and Pharmacology, University College London, London, United Kingdom
| | - Rebecca Jordan
- Neurophysiology of Behaviour Laboratory, The Francis Crick Institute, London, United Kingdom.,Department of Neuroscience, Physiology and Pharmacology, University College London, London, United Kingdom
| | - Andreas T Schaefer
- Neurophysiology of Behaviour Laboratory, The Francis Crick Institute, London, United Kingdom.,Department of Neuroscience, Physiology and Pharmacology, University College London, London, United Kingdom
| | - Izumi Fukunaga
- Sensory and Behavioural Neuroscience Unit, Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology Graduate University, Okinawa, Japan
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19
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Differential Impacts of Repeated Sampling on Odor Representations by Genetically-Defined Mitral and Tufted Cell Subpopulations in the Mouse Olfactory Bulb. J Neurosci 2020; 40:6177-6188. [PMID: 32601245 DOI: 10.1523/jneurosci.0258-20.2020] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/03/2020] [Revised: 06/16/2020] [Accepted: 06/18/2020] [Indexed: 12/20/2022] Open
Abstract
Sniffing, the active control of breathing beyond passive respiration, is used by mammals to modulate olfactory sampling. Sniffing allows animals to make odor-guided decisions within ∼200 ms, but animals routinely engage in bouts of high-frequency sniffing spanning several seconds; the impact of such repeated odorant sampling on odor representations remains unclear. We investigated this question in the mouse olfactory bulb (OB), where mitral and tufted cells (MTCs) form parallel output streams of odor information processing. To test the impact of repeated odorant sampling on MTC responses, we used two-photon imaging in anesthetized male and female mice to record activation of MTCs while precisely varying inhalation frequency. A combination of genetic targeting and viral expression of GCaMP6 reporters allowed us to access mitral cell (MC) and superficial tufted cell (sTC) subpopulations separately. We found that repeated odorant sampling differentially affected responses in MCs and sTCs, with MCs showing more diversity than sTCs over the same time period. Impacts of repeated sampling among MCs included both increases and decreases in excitation, as well as changes in response polarity. Response patterns across simultaneously-imaged MCs reformatted over time, with representations of different odorants becoming more distinct. Individual MCs responded differentially to changes in inhalation frequency, whereas sTC responses were more uniform over time and across frequency. Our results support the idea that MCs and TCs comprise functionally distinct pathways for odor information processing, and suggest that the reformatting of MC odor representations by high-frequency sniffing may serve to enhance the discrimination of similar odors.SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT Repeated sampling of odorants during high-frequency respiration (sniffing) is a hallmark of active odorant sampling by mammals; however, the adaptive function of this behavior remains unclear. We found distinct effects of repeated sampling on odor representations carried by the two main output channels from the mouse olfactory bulb (OB), mitral and tufted cells (MTCs). Mitral cells (MCs) showed more diverse changes in response patterns over time as compared with tufted cells (TCs), leading to odorant representations that were more distinct after repeated sampling. These results support the idea that MTCs contribute different aspects to encoding odor information, and they indicate that MCs (but not TCs) may play a primary role in the modulation of olfactory processing by sampling behavior.
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20
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Johnson ME, Bergkvist L, Mercado G, Stetzik L, Meyerdirk L, Wolfrum E, Madaj Z, Brundin P, Wesson DW. Deficits in olfactory sensitivity in a mouse model of Parkinson's disease revealed by plethysmography of odor-evoked sniffing. Sci Rep 2020; 10:9242. [PMID: 32514004 PMCID: PMC7280205 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-020-66201-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/29/2020] [Accepted: 05/18/2020] [Indexed: 12/26/2022] Open
Abstract
Hyposmia is evident in over 90% of Parkinson’s disease (PD) patients. A characteristic of PD is intraneuronal deposits composed in part of α-synuclein fibrils. Based on the analysis of post-mortem PD patients, Braak and colleagues suggested that early in the disease α-synuclein pathology is present in the dorsal motor nucleus of the vagus, as well as the olfactory bulb and anterior olfactory nucleus, and then later affects other interconnected brain regions. Here, we bilaterally injected α-synuclein preformed fibrils into the olfactory bulbs of wild type male and female mice. Six months after injection, the anterior olfactory nucleus and piriform cortex displayed a high α-synuclein pathology load. We evaluated olfactory perceptual function by monitoring odor-evoked sniffing behavior in a plethysmograph at one-, three- and six-months after injection. No overt impairments in the ability to engage in sniffing were evident in any group, suggesting preservation of the ability to coordinate respiration. At all-time points, females injected with fibrils exhibited reduced odor detection sensitivity, which was observed with the semi-automated plethysmography apparatus, but not a buried pellet test. In future studies, this sensitive methodology for assessing olfactory detection deficits could be used to define how α-synuclein pathology affects other aspects of olfactory perception and to clarify the neuropathological underpinnings of these deficits.
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Affiliation(s)
- Michaela E Johnson
- Center for Neurodegenerative Science, Van Andel Institute, Grand Rapids, MI, 49503, US
| | - Liza Bergkvist
- Center for Neurodegenerative Science, Van Andel Institute, Grand Rapids, MI, 49503, US
| | - Gabriela Mercado
- Center for Neurodegenerative Science, Van Andel Institute, Grand Rapids, MI, 49503, US
| | - Lucas Stetzik
- Center for Neurodegenerative Science, Van Andel Institute, Grand Rapids, MI, 49503, US
| | - Lindsay Meyerdirk
- Center for Neurodegenerative Science, Van Andel Institute, Grand Rapids, MI, 49503, US
| | - Emily Wolfrum
- Bioinformatics and Biostatistics Core, Van Andel Institute, Grand Rapids, MI, 49503, US
| | - Zachary Madaj
- Bioinformatics and Biostatistics Core, Van Andel Institute, Grand Rapids, MI, 49503, US
| | - Patrik Brundin
- Center for Neurodegenerative Science, Van Andel Institute, Grand Rapids, MI, 49503, US.
| | - Daniel W Wesson
- Department of Pharmacology and Therapeutics, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, USA.
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21
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A Comparison between Mouse, In Silico, and Robot Odor Plume Navigation Reveals Advantages of Mouse Odor Tracking. eNeuro 2020; 7:ENEURO.0212-19.2019. [PMID: 31924732 PMCID: PMC7004486 DOI: 10.1523/eneuro.0212-19.2019] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/04/2019] [Revised: 11/04/2019] [Accepted: 12/19/2019] [Indexed: 11/26/2022] Open
Abstract
Localization of odors is essential to animal survival, and thus animals are adept at odor navigation. In natural conditions animals encounter odor sources in which odor is carried by air flow varying in complexity. We sought to identify potential minimalist strategies that can effectively be used for odor-based navigation and asses their performance in an increasingly chaotic environment. Localization of odors is essential to animal survival, and thus animals are adept at odor navigation. In natural conditions animals encounter odor sources in which odor is carried by air flow varying in complexity. We sought to identify potential minimalist strategies that can effectively be used for odor-based navigation and asses their performance in an increasingly chaotic environment. To do so, we compared mouse, in silico model, and Arduino-based robot odor-localization behavior in a standardized odor landscape. Mouse performance remains robust in the presence of increased complexity, showing a shift in strategy towards faster movement with increased environmental complexity. Implementing simple binaral and temporal models of tropotaxis and klinotaxis, an in silico model and Arduino robot, in the same environment as the mice, are equally successful in locating the odor source within a plume of low complexity. However, performance of these algorithms significantly drops when the chaotic nature of the plume is increased. Additionally, both algorithm-driven systems show more successful performance when using a strictly binaral model at a larger sensor separation distance and more successful performance when using a temporal and binaral model when using a smaller sensor separation distance. This suggests that with an increasingly chaotic odor environment, mice rely on complex strategies that allow for robust odor localization that cannot be resolved by minimal algorithms that display robust performance at low levels of complexity. Thus, highlighting that an animal’s ability to modulate behavior with environmental complexity is beneficial for odor localization.
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22
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Young BD, Escalon JA, Mathew D. Odors: from chemical structures to gaseous plumes. Neurosci Biobehav Rev 2020; 111:19-29. [PMID: 31931034 DOI: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2020.01.009] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/19/2019] [Revised: 01/07/2020] [Accepted: 01/07/2020] [Indexed: 10/25/2022]
Abstract
We are immersed within an odorous sea of chemical currents that we parse into individual odors with complex structures. Odors have been posited as determined by the structural relation between the molecules that compose the chemical compounds and their interactions with the receptor site. But, naturally occurring smells are parsed from gaseous odor plumes. To give a comprehensive account of the nature of odors the chemosciences must account for these large distributed entities as well. We offer a focused review of what is known about the perception of odor plumes for olfactory navigation and tracking, which we then connect to what is known about the role odorants play as properties of the plume in determining odor identity with respect to odor quality. We end by motivating our central claim that more research needs to be conducted on the role that odorants play within the odor plume in determining odor identity.
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Affiliation(s)
- Benjamin D Young
- Philosophy and Neuroscience, University of Nevada, 1664 N Virginia St, Reno, NV 89557, United States.
| | | | - Dennis Mathew
- Biology and Neuroscience, University of Nevada, Reno, United States.
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23
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Genva M, Kenne Kemene T, Deleu M, Lins L, Fauconnier ML. Is It Possible to Predict the Odor of a Molecule on the Basis of its Structure? Int J Mol Sci 2019; 20:ijms20123018. [PMID: 31226833 PMCID: PMC6627536 DOI: 10.3390/ijms20123018] [Citation(s) in RCA: 29] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/29/2019] [Revised: 06/17/2019] [Accepted: 06/18/2019] [Indexed: 12/12/2022] Open
Abstract
The olfactory sense is the dominant sensory perception for many animals. When Richard Axel and Linda B. Buck received the Nobel Prize in 2004 for discovering the G protein-coupled receptors’ role in olfactory cells, they highlighted the importance of olfaction to the scientific community. Several theories have tried to explain how cells are able to distinguish such a wide variety of odorant molecules in a complex context in which enantiomers can result in completely different perceptions and structurally different molecules. Moreover, sex, age, cultural origin, and individual differences contribute to odor perception variations that complicate the picture. In this article, recent advances in olfaction theory are presented, and future trends in human olfaction such as structure-based odor prediction and artificial sniffing are discussed at the frontiers of chemistry, physiology, neurobiology, and machine learning.
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Affiliation(s)
- Manon Genva
- Laboratory of Chemistry of Natural Molecules, Gembloux Agro-Bio Tech, University of Liège, 5030 Gembloux, Belgium.
| | - Tierry Kenne Kemene
- Laboratory of Chemistry of Natural Molecules, Gembloux Agro-Bio Tech, University of Liège, 5030 Gembloux, Belgium.
| | - Magali Deleu
- Laboratory of Molecular Biophysics at Interfaces, Gembloux Agro-Bio Tech, University of Liège, 5030 Gembloux, Belgium.
| | - Laurence Lins
- Laboratory of Molecular Biophysics at Interfaces, Gembloux Agro-Bio Tech, University of Liège, 5030 Gembloux, Belgium.
| | - Marie-Laure Fauconnier
- Laboratory of Chemistry of Natural Molecules, Gembloux Agro-Bio Tech, University of Liège, 5030 Gembloux, Belgium.
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24
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Abstract
Sampling regulates stimulus intensity and temporal dynamics at the sense organ. Despite variations in sampling behavior, animals must make veridical perceptual judgments about external stimuli. In olfaction, odor sampling varies with respiration, which influences neural responses at the olfactory periphery. Nevertheless, rats were able to perform fine odor intensity judgments despite variations in sniff kinetics. To identify the features of neural activity supporting stable intensity perception, in awake mice we measured responses of mitral/tufted (MT) cells to different odors and concentrations across a range of sniff frequencies. Amplitude and latency of the MT cells' responses vary with sniff duration. A fluid dynamics (FD) model based on odor concentration kinetics in the intranasal cavity can account for this variability. Eliminating sniff waveform dependence of MT cell responses using the FD model allows for significantly better decoding of concentration. This suggests potential schemes for sniff waveform invariant odor concentration coding.
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