Neural Sensitivity to Odorants in Deprived and Normal Olfactory Bulbs |
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Authors: | Francisco B. Rodríguez Ramón Huerta Maria de la Luz Aylwin |
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Affiliation: | 1. Grupo de Neurocomputación Biológica, Dpto. de Ingeniería Informática, Escuela Politécnica Superior, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Madrid, Spain.; 2. BioCircuits Institute, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, California, United States of America.; 3. Programa de Fisiología y Biofísica, Facultad de Medicina, Universidad de Chile, Casilla, Santiago, Chile.; The University of Plymouth, United Kingdom, |
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Abstract: | Early olfactory deprivation in rodents is accompanied by an homeostatic regulation of the synaptic connectivity in the olfactory bulb (OB). However, its consequences in the neural sensitivity and discrimination have not been elucidated. We compared the odorant sensitivity and discrimination in early sensory deprived and normal OBs in anesthetized rats. We show that the deprived OB exhibits an increased sensitivity to different odorants when compared to the normal OB. Our results indicate that early olfactory stimulation enhances discriminability of the olfactory stimuli. We found that deprived olfactory bulbs adjusts the overall excitatory and inhibitory mitral cells (MCs) responses to odorants but the receptive fields become wider than in the normal olfactory bulbs. Taken together, these results suggest that an early natural sensory stimulation sharpens the receptor fields resulting in a larger discrimination capability. These results are consistent with previous evidence that a varied experience with odorants modulates the OB''s synaptic connections and increases MCs selectivity. |
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