嗅球对嗅觉信息的处理

哺乳动物的嗅觉系统拥有惊人的能力，它可以识别和分辨成千上万种分子结构各异的气味分子。这种识别能力是由基因决定的。近年来，分子生物学和神经生理学的研究使得我们对嗅觉识别的分子基础和嗅觉系统神经连接的认识有了质的飞跃。气味分子的识别是由一千多种气味受体完成的，鼻腔中的嗅觉感觉神经元表达这些气味受体基因。每个感觉神经元只表达一种气味受体基因。表达同种气味受体的感觉神经元投射到嗅球表面的一个或几个嗅小球中，从而在嗅球中形成一个精确的二维连接图谱。了解嗅球对气味信息的加工和处理方式是我们研究嗅觉系统信号编码的一个重要环节。文章概述并总结了有关嗅球信号处理的最新研究成果。

Olfactory Information Processing by The Olfactory Bulb

The mammalian olfactory system has incredible ability to detect and discriminate a large number of volatile chemicals. Recent molecular and physiological studies have revealed the genetic basis of odor detection and wiring of the olfactory system. The olfactory sensing is accomplished by ~1000 odorant receptor genes expressed by olfactory sensory neurons in the nose. Olfactory sensory neurons expressing the same odorant receptor gene project to one or a few glomeruli in the olfactory bulb, thus forming an intricate two-dimensional olfactory map. Understanding how the incoming olfactory signals are processed in the olfactory bulb is central to information coding in the olfactory system. This review summarizes current progresses concerning different strategies used by the olfactory bulb to process olfactory information.