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Jing S, Geng C, Liu P, Wang D, Li Q, Li A. Serotonergic input from the dorsal raphe nucleus shapes learning-associated odor responses in the olfactory bulb. Acta Physiol (Oxf) 2024:e14198. [PMID: 38958443 DOI: 10.1111/apha.14198] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/26/2023] [Revised: 05/29/2024] [Accepted: 06/22/2024] [Indexed: 07/04/2024]
Abstract
AIM Neural activity in the olfactory bulb (OB) can represent odor information during different brain and behavioral states. For example, the odor responses of mitral/tufted (M/T) cells in the OB change during learning of odor-discrimination tasks and, at the network level, beta power increases and the high gamma (HG) power decreases during odor presentation in such tasks. However, the neural mechanisms underlying these observations remain poorly understood. Here, we investigate whether serotonergic modulation from the dorsal raphe nucleus (DRN) to the OB is involved in shaping activity during the learning process in a go/no-go task in mice. METHODS Fiber photometry was used to record the population activity of DRN serotonergic neurons during a go/no-go task. In vivo electrophysiology was used to record neural activity (single units and local field potentials) in the OB during the go/no-go task. Real-time place preference (RTPP) and intracranial light administration in a specific subarea (iClass) tests were used to assess the ability of mice to encoding reward information. RESULTS Odor-evoked population activity in serotonergic neurons in the DRN was shaped during the learning process in a go/no-go task. In the OB, neural activity from oscillations to single cells showed complex, learning-associated changes and ability to encode information during an odor discrimination task. However, these properties were not observed after ablation of DRN serotonergic neurons. CONCLUSION The activity of neural networks and single cells in the OB, and their ability to encode information about odor value, are shaped by serotonergic projections from the DRN.
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Affiliation(s)
- Siqi Jing
- Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Brain Disease and Bioinformation, Research Center for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Xuzhou Medical University, Xuzhou, China
| | - Chi Geng
- Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Brain Disease and Bioinformation, Research Center for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Xuzhou Medical University, Xuzhou, China
| | - Penglai Liu
- Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Brain Disease and Bioinformation, Research Center for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Xuzhou Medical University, Xuzhou, China
| | - Dejuan Wang
- Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Brain Disease and Bioinformation, Research Center for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Xuzhou Medical University, Xuzhou, China
| | - Qun Li
- Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Brain Disease and Bioinformation, Research Center for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Xuzhou Medical University, Xuzhou, China
| | - Anan Li
- Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Brain Disease and Bioinformation, Research Center for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Xuzhou Medical University, Xuzhou, China
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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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Lindeman S, Fu X, Reinert JK, Fukunaga I. Value-related learning in the olfactory bulb occurs through pathway-dependent perisomatic inhibition of mitral cells. PLoS Biol 2024; 22:e3002536. [PMID: 38427708 PMCID: PMC10936853 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pbio.3002536] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/16/2023] [Revised: 03/13/2024] [Accepted: 02/05/2024] [Indexed: 03/03/2024] Open
Abstract
Associating values to environmental cues is a critical aspect of learning from experiences, allowing animals to predict and maximise future rewards. Value-related signals in the brain were once considered a property of higher sensory regions, but their wide distribution across many brain regions is increasingly recognised. Here, we investigate how reward-related signals begin to be incorporated, mechanistically, at the earliest stage of olfactory processing, namely, in the olfactory bulb. In head-fixed mice performing Go/No-Go discrimination of closely related olfactory mixtures, rewarded odours evoke widespread inhibition in one class of output neurons, that is, in mitral cells but not tufted cells. The temporal characteristics of this reward-related inhibition suggest it is odour-driven, but it is also context-dependent since it is absent during pseudo-conditioning and pharmacological silencing of the piriform cortex. Further, the reward-related modulation is present in the somata but not in the apical dendritic tuft of mitral cells, suggesting an involvement of circuit components located deep in the olfactory bulb. Depth-resolved imaging from granule cell dendritic gemmules suggests that granule cells that target mitral cells receive a reward-related extrinsic drive. Thus, our study supports the notion that value-related modulation of olfactory signals is a characteristic of olfactory processing in the primary olfactory area and narrows down the possible underlying mechanisms to deeper circuit components that contact mitral cells perisomatically.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sander Lindeman
- Sensory and Behavioural Neuroscience Unit, Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology Graduate University, Okinawa, Japan
| | - Xiaochen Fu
- Sensory and Behavioural Neuroscience Unit, Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology Graduate University, Okinawa, Japan
| | - Janine Kristin Reinert
- Sensory and Behavioural Neuroscience Unit, Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology Graduate University, Okinawa, Japan
| | - Izumi Fukunaga
- Sensory and Behavioural Neuroscience Unit, Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology Graduate University, Okinawa, Japan
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4
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Trejo DH, Ciuparu A, da Silva PG, Velasquez CM, Rebouillat B, Gross MD, Davis MB, Muresan RC, Albeanu DF. Fast updating feedback from piriform cortex to the olfactory bulb relays multimodal reward contingency signals during rule-reversal. BIORXIV : THE PREPRINT SERVER FOR BIOLOGY 2023:2023.09.12.557267. [PMID: 37745564 PMCID: PMC10515864 DOI: 10.1101/2023.09.12.557267] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 09/26/2023]
Abstract
While animals readily adjust their behavior to adapt to relevant changes in the environment, the neural pathways enabling these changes remain largely unknown. Here, using multiphoton imaging, we investigated whether feedback from the piriform cortex to the olfactory bulb supports such behavioral flexibility. To this end, we engaged head-fixed mice in a multimodal rule-reversal task guided by olfactory and auditory cues. Both odor and, surprisingly, the sound cues triggered cortical bulbar feedback responses which preceded the behavioral report. Responses to the same sensory cue were strongly modulated upon changes in stimulus-reward contingency (rule reversals). The re-shaping of individual bouton responses occurred within seconds of the rule-reversal events and was correlated with changes in the behavior. Optogenetic perturbation of cortical feedback within the bulb disrupted the behavioral performance. Our results indicate that the piriform-to-olfactory bulb feedback carries reward contingency signals and is rapidly re-formatted according to changes in the behavioral context.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Andrei Ciuparu
- Transylvanian Institute of Neuroscience, Cluj-Napoca, Romania
| | - Pedro Garcia da Silva
- Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, Cold Spring Harbor, NY, USA
- current address – Champalimaud Neuroscience Program, Lisbon, Portugal
| | - Cristina M. Velasquez
- Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, Cold Spring Harbor, NY, USA
- current address – University of Oxford, UK
| | - Benjamin Rebouillat
- Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, Cold Spring Harbor, NY, USA
- current address –École Normale Supérieure, Paris, France
| | | | | | - Raul C. Muresan
- Transylvanian Institute of Neuroscience, Cluj-Napoca, Romania
- STAR-UBB Institute, Babeş-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca, Romania
| | - Dinu F. Albeanu
- Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, Cold Spring Harbor, NY, USA
- School for Biological Sciences, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, Cold Spring Harbor, NY, USA
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5
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Robust odor identification in novel olfactory environments in mice. Nat Commun 2023; 14:673. [PMID: 36781878 PMCID: PMC9925783 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-023-36346-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/15/2020] [Accepted: 01/26/2023] [Indexed: 02/15/2023] Open
Abstract
Relevant odors signaling food, mates, or predators can be masked by unpredictable mixtures of less relevant background odors. Here, we developed a mouse behavioral paradigm to test the role played by the novelty of the background odors. During the task, mice identified target odors in previously learned background odors and were challenged by catch trials with novel background odors, a task similar to visual CAPTCHA. Female wild-type (WT) mice could accurately identify known targets in novel background odors. WT mice performance was higher than linear classifiers and the nearest neighbor classifier trained using olfactory bulb glomerular activation patterns. Performance was more consistent with an odor deconvolution method. We also used our task to investigate the performance of female Cntnap2-/- mice, which show some autism-like behaviors. Cntnap2-/- mice had glomerular activation patterns similar to WT mice and matched WT mice target detection for known background odors. However, Cntnap2-/- mice performance fell almost to chance levels in the presence of novel backgrounds. Our findings suggest that mice use a robust algorithm for detecting odors in novel environments and this computation is impaired in Cntnap2-/- mice.
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6
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Abstract
Neural mechanisms of perceptual decision making have been extensively studied in experimental settings that mimic stable environments with repeating stimuli, fixed rules, and payoffs. In contrast, we live in an ever-changing environment and have varying goals and behavioral demands. To accommodate variability, our brain flexibly adjusts decision-making processes depending on context. Here, we review a growing body of research that explores the neural mechanisms underlying this flexibility. We highlight diverse forms of context dependency in decision making implemented through a variety of neural computations. Context-dependent neural activity is observed in a distributed network of brain structures, including posterior parietal, sensory, motor, and subcortical regions, as well as the prefrontal areas classically implicated in cognitive control. We propose that investigating the distributed network underlying flexible decisions is key to advancing our understanding and discuss a path forward for experimental and theoretical investigations.
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Affiliation(s)
- Gouki Okazawa
- Center for Neural Science, New York University, New York, NY, USA;
- Institute of Neuroscience, Key Laboratory of Primate Neurobiology, Center for Excellence in Brain Science and Intelligence Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai, China
| | - Roozbeh Kiani
- Center for Neural Science, New York University, New York, NY, USA;
- Department of Psychology, New York University, New York, NY, USA
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7
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Chae H, Banerjee A, Dussauze M, Albeanu DF. Long-range functional loops in the mouse olfactory system and their roles in computing odor identity. Neuron 2022; 110:3970-3985.e7. [PMID: 36174573 PMCID: PMC9742324 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuron.2022.09.005] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/16/2021] [Revised: 07/12/2022] [Accepted: 09/02/2022] [Indexed: 12/15/2022]
Abstract
Elucidating the neural circuits supporting odor identification remains an open challenge. Here, we analyze the contribution of the two output cell types of the mouse olfactory bulb (mitral and tufted cells) to decode odor identity and concentration and its dependence on top-down feedback from their respective major cortical targets: piriform cortex versus anterior olfactory nucleus. We find that tufted cells substantially outperform mitral cells in decoding both odor identity and intensity. Cortical feedback selectively regulates the activity of its dominant bulb projection cell type and implements different computations. Piriform feedback specifically restructures mitral responses, whereas feedback from the anterior olfactory nucleus preferentially controls the gain of tufted representations without altering their odor tuning. Our results identify distinct functional loops involving the mitral and tufted cells and their cortical targets. We suggest that in addition to the canonical mitral-to-piriform pathway, tufted cells and their target regions are ideally positioned to compute odor identity.
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Affiliation(s)
- Honggoo Chae
- Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, Cold Spring Harbor, NY, USA
| | - Arkarup Banerjee
- Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, Cold Spring Harbor, NY, USA; Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory School for Biological Sciences, Cold Spring Harbor, NY, USA
| | - Marie Dussauze
- Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, Cold Spring Harbor, NY, USA; Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory School for Biological Sciences, Cold Spring Harbor, NY, USA
| | - Dinu F Albeanu
- Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, Cold Spring Harbor, NY, USA; Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory School for Biological Sciences, Cold Spring Harbor, NY, USA.
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8
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The facets of olfactory learning. Curr Opin Neurobiol 2022; 76:102623. [PMID: 35998474 DOI: 10.1016/j.conb.2022.102623] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/20/2022] [Revised: 07/17/2022] [Accepted: 07/21/2022] [Indexed: 11/23/2022]
Abstract
Volatile chemicals in the environment provide ethologically important information to many animals. However, how animals learn to use this information is only beginning to be understood. This review highlights recent experimental advances elucidating olfactory learning in rodents, ranging from adaptations to the environment to task-dependent refinement and multisensory associations. The broad range of phenomena, mechanisms, and brain areas involved demonstrate the complex and multifaceted nature of olfactory learning.
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9
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Adefuin AM, Lindeman S, Reinert JK, Fukunaga I. State-dependent representations of mixtures by the olfactory bulb. eLife 2022; 11:76882. [PMID: 35254262 PMCID: PMC8937304 DOI: 10.7554/elife.76882] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/07/2022] [Accepted: 03/05/2022] [Indexed: 12/02/2022] Open
Abstract
Sensory systems are often tasked to analyse complex signals from the environment, separating relevant from irrelevant parts. This process of decomposing signals is challenging when a mixture of signals does not equal the sum of its parts, leading to an unpredictable corruption of signal patterns. In olfaction, nonlinear summation is prevalent at various stages of sensory processing. Here, we investigate how the olfactory system deals with binary mixtures of odours under different brain states by two-photon imaging of olfactory bulb (OB) output neurons. Unlike previous studies using anaesthetised animals, we found that mixture summation is more linear in the early phase of evoked responses in awake, head-fixed mice performing an odour detection task, due to dampened responses. Despite smaller and more variable responses, decoding analyses indicated that the data from behaving mice was well discriminable. Curiously, the time course of decoding accuracy did not correlate strictly with the linearity of summation. Further, a comparison with naïve mice indicated that learning to accurately perform the mixture detection task is not accompanied by more linear mixture summation. Finally, using a simulation, we demonstrate that, while saturating sublinearity tends to degrade the discriminability, the extent of the impairment may depend on other factors, including pattern decorrelation. Altogether, our results demonstrate that the mixture representation in the primary olfactory area is state-dependent, but the analytical perception may not strictly correlate with linearity in summation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Aliya Mari Adefuin
- Sensory and Behavioural Neuroscience Unit, Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology Graduate University, Okinawa, Japan
| | - Sander Lindeman
- Sensory and Behavioural Neuroscience Unit, Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology Graduate University, Okinawa, Japan
| | - Janine K Reinert
- Sensory and Behavioural Neuroscience Unit, Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology Graduate University, Okinawa, Japan
| | - Izumi Fukunaga
- Sensory and Behavioural Neuroscience Unit, Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology Graduate University, Okinawa, Japan
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10
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De Saint Jan D. Target-specific control of olfactory bulb periglomerular cells by GABAergic and cholinergic basal forebrain inputs. eLife 2022; 11:71965. [PMID: 35225232 PMCID: PMC8901171 DOI: 10.7554/elife.71965] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/06/2021] [Accepted: 02/16/2022] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
The olfactory bulb (OB), the first relay for odor processing in the brain, receives dense GABAergic and cholinergic long-range projections from basal forebrain (BF) nuclei that provide information about the internal state and behavioral context of the animal. However, the targets, impact, and dynamic of these afferents are still unclear. How BF synaptic inputs modulate activity in diverse subtypes of periglomerular (PG) interneurons using optogenetic stimulation and loose cell-attached or whole-cell patch-clamp recording in OB slices from adult mice were studied in this article. GABAergic BF inputs potently blocked PG cells firing except in a minority of calretinin-expressing cells in which GABA release elicited spiking. Parallel cholinergic projections excited a previously overlooked PG cell subtype via synaptic activation of M1 muscarinic receptors. Low-frequency stimulation of the cholinergic axons drove persistent firing in these PG cells, thereby increasing tonic inhibition in principal neurons. Taken together, these findings suggest that modality-specific BF inputs can orchestrate synaptic inhibition in OB glomeruli using multiple, potentially independent, inhibitory or excitatory target-specific pathways.
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Affiliation(s)
- Didier De Saint Jan
- Institut des Neurosciences Cellulaires et Intégratives, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Strasbourg, France
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11
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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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12
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Abstract
Olfaction is fundamentally distinct from other sensory modalities. Natural odor stimuli are complex mixtures of volatile chemicals that interact in the nose with a receptor array that, in rodents, is built from more than 1,000 unique receptors. These interactions dictate a peripheral olfactory code, which in the brain is transformed and reformatted as it is broadcast across a set of highly interconnected olfactory regions. Here we discuss the problems of characterizing peripheral population codes for olfactory stimuli, of inferring the specific functions of different higher olfactory areas given their extensive recurrence, and of ultimately understanding how odor representations are linked to perception and action. We argue that, despite the differences between olfaction and other sensory modalities, addressing these specific questions will reveal general principles underlying brain function.
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Affiliation(s)
- David H Brann
- Department of Neurobiology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts 02115, USA;
| | - Sandeep Robert Datta
- Department of Neurobiology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts 02115, USA;
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13
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Koldaeva A, Zhang C, Huang YP, Reinert JK, Mizuno S, Sugiyama F, Takahashi S, Soliman T, Matsunami H, Fukunaga I. Generation and Characterization of a Cell Type-Specific, Inducible Cre-Driver Line to Study Olfactory Processing. J Neurosci 2021; 41:6449-6467. [PMID: 34099512 PMCID: PMC8318078 DOI: 10.1523/jneurosci.3076-20.2021] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/07/2020] [Revised: 05/28/2021] [Accepted: 06/01/2021] [Indexed: 02/06/2023] Open
Abstract
In sensory systems of the brain, mechanisms exist to extract distinct features from stimuli to generate a variety of behavioral repertoires. These often correspond to different cell types at various stages in sensory processing. In the mammalian olfactory system, complex information processing starts in the olfactory bulb, whose output is conveyed by mitral cells (MCs) and tufted cells (TCs). Despite many differences between them, and despite the crucial position they occupy in the information hierarchy, Cre-driver lines that distinguish them do not yet exist. Here, we sought to identify genes that are differentially expressed between MCs and TCs of the mouse, with an ultimate goal to generate a cell type-specific Cre-driver line, starting from a transcriptome analysis using a large and publicly available single-cell RNA-seq dataset (Zeisel et al., 2018). Many genes were differentially expressed, but only a few showed consistent expressions in MCs and at the specificity required. After further validating these putative markers using ISH, two genes (i.e., Pkib and Lbdh2) remained as promising candidates. Using CRISPR/Cas9-mediated gene editing, we generated Cre-driver lines and analyzed the resulting recombination patterns. This indicated that our new inducible Cre-driver line, Lbhd2-CreERT2, can be used to genetically label MCs in a tamoxifen dose-dependent manner, both in male and female mice, as assessed by soma locations, projection patterns, and sensory-evoked responses in vivo Hence, this is a promising tool for investigating cell type-specific contributions to olfactory processing and demonstrates the power of publicly accessible data in accelerating science.SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT In the brain, distinct cell types play unique roles. It is therefore important to have tools for studying unique cell types specifically. For the sense of smell in mammals, information is processed first by circuits of the olfactory bulb, where two types of cells, mitral cells and tufted cells, output different information. We generated a transgenic mouse line that enables mitral cells to be specifically labeled or manipulated. This was achieved by looking for genes that are specific to mitral cells using a large and public gene expression dataset, and creating a transgenic mouse using the gene editing technique, CRISPR/Cas9. This will allow scientists to better investigate parallel information processing underlying the sense of smell.
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Affiliation(s)
- Anzhelika Koldaeva
- Sensory and Behavioural Neuroscience Unit, Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology Graduate University, Okinawa, Japan, 904-0495
| | - Cary Zhang
- Sensory and Behavioural Neuroscience Unit, Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology Graduate University, Okinawa, Japan, 904-0495
| | - Yu-Pei Huang
- Sensory and Behavioural Neuroscience Unit, Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology Graduate University, Okinawa, Japan, 904-0495
| | - Janine Kristin Reinert
- Sensory and Behavioural Neuroscience Unit, Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology Graduate University, Okinawa, Japan, 904-0495
| | - Seiya Mizuno
- Laboratory Animal Resource Center, Tsukuba University, Ibaraki, Japan, 305-8577
| | - Fumihiro Sugiyama
- Laboratory Animal Resource Center, Tsukuba University, Ibaraki, Japan, 305-8577
| | - Satoru Takahashi
- Laboratory Animal Resource Center, Tsukuba University, Ibaraki, Japan, 305-8577
| | - Taha Soliman
- Sensory and Behavioural Neuroscience Unit, Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology Graduate University, Okinawa, Japan, 904-0495
| | - Hiroaki Matsunami
- Department of Molecular Genetics and Microbiology and Department of Neurobiology, Duke University, Durham, North Carolina, 27710
| | - Izumi Fukunaga
- Sensory and Behavioural Neuroscience Unit, Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology Graduate University, Okinawa, Japan, 904-0495
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14
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Nikbakht N, Diamond ME. Conserved visual capacity of rats under red light. eLife 2021; 10:66429. [PMID: 34282724 PMCID: PMC8360654 DOI: 10.7554/elife.66429] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/11/2021] [Accepted: 07/19/2021] [Indexed: 01/16/2023] Open
Abstract
Recent studies examine the behavioral capacities of rats and mice with and without visual input, and the neuronal mechanisms underlying such capacities. These animals are assumed to be functionally blind under red light, an assumption that might originate in the fact that they are dichromats who possess ultraviolet and green cones, but not red cones. But the inability to see red as a color does not necessarily rule out form vision based on red light absorption. We measured Long-Evans rats’ capacity for visual form discrimination under red light of various wavelength bands. Upon viewing a black and white grating, they had to distinguish between two categories of orientation: horizontal and vertical. Psychometric curves plotting judged orientation versus angle demonstrate the conserved visual capacity of rats under red light. Investigations aiming to explore rodent physiological and behavioral functions in the absence of visual input should not assume red-light blindness.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nader Nikbakht
- Tactile Perception and Learning Lab, International School for Advanced Studies (SISSA), Trieste, Italy.,Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, United States
| | - Mathew E Diamond
- Tactile Perception and Learning Lab, International School for Advanced Studies (SISSA), Trieste, Italy
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15
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Schreck M, Ma M. Sensory neuroscience: Early value-based odor categorization. Curr Biol 2021; 31:R396-R398. [PMID: 33905700 DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2021.03.016] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/21/2022]
Abstract
How the brain categorizes external stimuli in an experience-dependent, behaviorally relevant manner is a fundamental question. A new study reveals that mitral cells in the olfactory bulb of mice dynamically represent value- and category-related odor information in learned behavioral tasks.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mary Schreck
- Department of Neuroscience, University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA
| | - Minghong Ma
- Department of Neuroscience, University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA.
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16
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Kudryavitskaya E, Marom E, Shani-Narkiss H, Pash D, Mizrahi A. Flexible categorization in the mouse olfactory bulb. Curr Biol 2021; 31:1616-1631.e4. [DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2021.01.063] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/13/2020] [Revised: 12/11/2020] [Accepted: 01/19/2021] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
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17
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Wu A, Yu B, Chen Q, Matthews GA, Lu C, Campbell E, Tye KM, Komiyama T. Context-dependent plasticity of adult-born neurons regulated by cortical feedback. SCIENCE ADVANCES 2020; 6:6/42/eabc8319. [PMID: 33067236 PMCID: PMC7567600 DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.abc8319] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/16/2020] [Accepted: 09/02/2020] [Indexed: 05/26/2023]
Abstract
In a complex and dynamic environment, the brain flexibly adjusts its circuits to preferentially process behaviorally relevant information. Here, we investigated how the olfactory bulb copes with this demand by examining the plasticity of adult-born granule cells (abGCs). We found that learning of olfactory discrimination elevates odor responses of young abGCs and increases their apical dendritic spines. This plasticity did not occur in abGCs during passive odor experience nor in resident granule cells (rGCs) during learning. Furthermore, we found that feedback projections from the piriform cortex show elevated activity during learning, and activating piriform feedback elicited stronger excitatory postsynaptic currents in abGCs than rGCs. Inactivation of piriform feedback blocked abGC plasticity during learning, and activation of piriform feedback during passive experience induced learning-like plasticity of abGCs. Our work describes a neural circuit mechanism that uses adult neurogenesis to update a sensory circuit to flexibly adapt to new behavioral demands.
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Affiliation(s)
- An Wu
- Neurobiology Section, and Center for Neural Circuits and Behavior, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA 92093, USA.
- Department of Neurosciences, and Halıcıoğlu Data Science Institute, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA 92093, USA
| | - Bin Yu
- Neurobiology Section, and Center for Neural Circuits and Behavior, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA 92093, USA
- Department of Neurosciences, and Halıcıoğlu Data Science Institute, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA 92093, USA
- Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA 92093, USA
| | - Qiyu Chen
- Neurobiology Section, and Center for Neural Circuits and Behavior, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA 92093, USA
- Department of Neurosciences, and Halıcıoğlu Data Science Institute, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA 92093, USA
| | | | - Chen Lu
- Neurobiology Section, and Center for Neural Circuits and Behavior, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA 92093, USA
- Department of Neurosciences, and Halıcıoğlu Data Science Institute, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA 92093, USA
| | - Evan Campbell
- Neurobiology Section, and Center for Neural Circuits and Behavior, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA 92093, USA
| | - Kay M Tye
- Salk Institute for Biological Studies, La Jolla, CA 92037, USA
| | - Takaki Komiyama
- Neurobiology Section, and Center for Neural Circuits and Behavior, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA 92093, USA.
- Department of Neurosciences, and Halıcıoğlu Data Science Institute, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA 92093, USA
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18
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Bolding KA, Nagappan S, Han BX, Wang F, Franks KM. Recurrent circuitry is required to stabilize piriform cortex odor representations across brain states. eLife 2020; 9:e53125. [PMID: 32662420 PMCID: PMC7360366 DOI: 10.7554/elife.53125] [Citation(s) in RCA: 23] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/29/2019] [Accepted: 06/19/2020] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Pattern completion, or the ability to retrieve stable neural activity patterns from noisy or partial cues, is a fundamental feature of memory. Theoretical studies indicate that recurrently connected auto-associative or discrete attractor networks can perform this process. Although pattern completion and attractor dynamics have been observed in various recurrent neural circuits, the role recurrent circuitry plays in implementing these processes remains unclear. In recordings from head-fixed mice, we found that odor responses in olfactory bulb degrade under ketamine/xylazine anesthesia while responses immediately downstream, in piriform cortex, remain robust. Recurrent connections are required to stabilize cortical odor representations across states. Moreover, piriform odor representations exhibit attractor dynamics, both within and across trials, and these are also abolished when recurrent circuitry is eliminated. Here, we present converging evidence that recurrently-connected piriform populations stabilize sensory representations in response to degraded inputs, consistent with an auto-associative function for piriform cortex supported by recurrent circuitry.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kevin A Bolding
- Department of Neurobiology, Duke University Medical SchoolDurhamUnited States
| | | | - Bao-Xia Han
- Department of Neurobiology, Duke University Medical SchoolDurhamUnited States
| | - Fan Wang
- Department of Neurobiology, Duke University Medical SchoolDurhamUnited States
| | - Kevin M Franks
- Department of Neurobiology, Duke University Medical SchoolDurhamUnited States
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19
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Wu A, Yu B, Komiyama T. Plasticity in olfactory bulb circuits. Curr Opin Neurobiol 2020; 64:17-23. [PMID: 32062045 DOI: 10.1016/j.conb.2020.01.007] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/04/2019] [Revised: 11/27/2019] [Accepted: 01/15/2020] [Indexed: 12/24/2022]
Abstract
Olfaction is crucial for animal survival and human well-being. The olfactory bulb is the obligatory input station for olfactory information. In contrast to the traditional view as a static relay station, recent evidence indicates that the olfactory bulb dynamically processes olfactory information in an experience-dependent and context-dependent manner. Here, we review recent studies on experience-dependent plasticity of the main circuit components within the olfactory bulb of rodents. We argue that the olfactory bulb plasticity allows optimal representations of behaviorally-relevant odors in the continuously changing olfactory environment.
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Affiliation(s)
- An Wu
- Neurobiology Section, Center for Neural Circuits and Behavior, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA 92093, USA; Department of Neurosciences, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA 92093, USA
| | - Bin Yu
- Neurobiology Section, Center for Neural Circuits and Behavior, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA 92093, USA; Department of Neurosciences, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA 92093, USA; Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA 92093, USA
| | - Takaki Komiyama
- Neurobiology Section, Center for Neural Circuits and Behavior, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA 92093, USA; Department of Neurosciences, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA 92093, USA.
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20
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Losacco J, Ramirez-Gordillo D, Gilmer J, Restrepo D. Learning improves decoding of odor identity with phase-referenced oscillations in the olfactory bulb. eLife 2020; 9:e52583. [PMID: 31990271 PMCID: PMC6986879 DOI: 10.7554/elife.52583] [Citation(s) in RCA: 30] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/09/2019] [Accepted: 12/30/2019] [Indexed: 01/04/2023] Open
Abstract
Local field potential oscillations reflect temporally coordinated neuronal ensembles-coupling distant brain regions, gating processing windows, and providing a reference for spike timing-based codes. In phase amplitude coupling (PAC), the amplitude of the envelope of a faster oscillation is larger within a phase window of a slower carrier wave. Here, we characterized PAC, and the related theta phase-referenced high gamma and beta power (PRP), in the olfactory bulb of mice learning to discriminate odorants. PAC changes throughout learning, and odorant-elicited changes in PRP increase for rewarded and decrease for unrewarded odorants. Contextual odorant identity (is the odorant rewarded?) can be decoded from peak PRP in animals proficient in odorant discrimination, but not in naïve mice. As the animal learns to discriminate the odorants the dimensionality of PRP decreases. Therefore, modulation of phase-referenced chunking of information in the course of learning plays a role in early sensory processing in olfaction.
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Affiliation(s)
- Justin Losacco
- Neuroscience Graduate ProgramUniversity of Colorado Anschutz Medical CampusAuroraUnited States
- Department of Cell and Developmental BiologyUniversity of Colorado Anschutz Medical CampusAuroraUnited States
| | - Daniel Ramirez-Gordillo
- Department of Cell and Developmental BiologyUniversity of Colorado Anschutz Medical CampusAuroraUnited States
| | - Jesse Gilmer
- Neuroscience Graduate ProgramUniversity of Colorado Anschutz Medical CampusAuroraUnited States
- Department of Physiology and BiophysicsUniversity of Colorado Anschutz Medical CampusAuroraUnited States
| | - Diego Restrepo
- Neuroscience Graduate ProgramUniversity of Colorado Anschutz Medical CampusAuroraUnited States
- Department of Cell and Developmental BiologyUniversity of Colorado Anschutz Medical CampusAuroraUnited States
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Liu P, Cao T, Xu J, Mao X, Wang D, Li A. Plasticity of Sniffing Pattern and Neural Activity in the Olfactory Bulb of Behaving Mice During Odor Sampling, Anticipation, and Reward. Neurosci Bull 2020; 36:598-610. [PMID: 31989425 DOI: 10.1007/s12264-019-00463-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/12/2019] [Accepted: 10/15/2019] [Indexed: 12/20/2022] Open
Abstract
The olfactory bulb (OB) is the first relay station in the olfactory system. In the OB, mitral/tufted cells (M/Ts), which are the main output neurons, play important roles in the processing and representation of odor information. Recent studies focusing on the function of M/Ts at the single-cell level in awake behaving mice have demonstrated that odor-evoked firing of single M/Ts displays transient/long-term plasticity during learning. Here, we tested whether the neural activity of M/Ts and sniffing patterns are dependent on anticipation and reward in awake behaving mice. We used an odor discrimination task combined with in vivo electrophysiological recordings in awake, head-fixed mice, and found that, while learning induced plasticity of spikes and beta oscillations during odor sampling, we also found plasticity of spikes, beta oscillation, sniffing pattern, and coherence between sniffing and theta oscillations during the periods of anticipation and/or reward. These results indicate that the activity of M/Ts plays important roles not only in odor representation but also in salience-related events such as anticipation and reward.
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Affiliation(s)
- Penglai Liu
- Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Brain Disease and Bioinformation, Research Center for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Xuzhou Medical University, Xuzhou, 221004, China
| | - Tiantian Cao
- Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Brain Disease and Bioinformation, Research Center for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Xuzhou Medical University, Xuzhou, 221004, China
| | - Jinshan Xu
- Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Brain Disease and Bioinformation, Research Center for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Xuzhou Medical University, Xuzhou, 221004, China
| | - Xingfeng Mao
- Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Brain Disease and Bioinformation, Research Center for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Xuzhou Medical University, Xuzhou, 221004, China
| | - Dejuan Wang
- Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Brain Disease and Bioinformation, Research Center for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Xuzhou Medical University, Xuzhou, 221004, China
| | - Anan Li
- Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Brain Disease and Bioinformation, Research Center for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Xuzhou Medical University, Xuzhou, 221004, China.
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Task-Demand-Dependent Neural Representation of Odor Information in the Olfactory Bulb and Posterior Piriform Cortex. J Neurosci 2019; 39:10002-10018. [PMID: 31672791 DOI: 10.1523/jneurosci.1234-19.2019] [Citation(s) in RCA: 35] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/28/2019] [Revised: 10/16/2019] [Accepted: 10/19/2019] [Indexed: 02/03/2023] Open
Abstract
In awake rodents, the neural representation of olfactory information in the olfactory bulb is largely dependent on brain state and behavioral context. Learning-modified neural plasticity has been observed in mitral/tufted cells, the main output neurons of the olfactory bulb. Here, we propose that the odor information encoded by mitral/tufted cell responses in awake mice is highly dependent on the behavioral task demands. We used fiber photometry to record calcium signals from the mitral/tufted cell population in awake, head-fixed male mice under different task demands. We found that the mitral/tufted cell population showed similar responses to two distinct odors when the odors were presented in the context of a go/go task, in which the mice received a water reward regardless of the identity of the odor presented. However, when the same odors were presented in a go/no-go task, in which one odor was rewarded and the other was not, then the mitral cell population responded very differently to the two odors, characterized by a robust reduction in the response to the nonrewarded odor. Thus, the representation of odors in the mitral/tufted cell population depends on whether the task requires discrimination of the odors. Strikingly, downstream of the olfactory bulb, pyramidal neurons in the posterior piriform cortex also displayed a task-demand-dependent neural representation of odors, but the anterior piriform cortex did not, indicating that these two important higher olfactory centers use different strategies for neural representation.SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT The most important task of the olfactory system is to generate a precise representation of odor information under different brain states. Whether the representation of odors by neurons in olfactory centers such as the olfactory bulb and the piriform cortex depends on task demands remains elusive. We find that odor representation in the mitral/tufted cells of the olfactory bulb depends on whether the task requires odor discrimination. A similar neural representation is found in the posterior piriform cortex but not the anterior piriform cortex, indicating that these higher olfactory centers use different representational strategies. The task-demand-dependent representational strategy is likely important for facilitating information processing in higher brain centers responsible for decision making and encoding of salience.
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