The papers Integrating the molecular and cellular basis of odor coding in the Drosophila antenna and The receptors and coding logic for bitter taste try to understand how sensory neurons interacting with chemicals produce the sensation of smell or taste in the brain. With chemosensation, a chemical molecule binds to a receptor neuron, where transduction occurs. An action potential can be generated which can travel along interneurons until it reaches the brain, which can process the information and perceive a specific smell or taste. While all the steps from reception to perception are important, both papers focus on receptor neurons and their role in chemosensation. Integrating the molecular and cellular basis of odor coding in the Drosophila antenna looks at mapping the olfactory system using Drosophila as a model organism. Or genes encode olfactory receptor neurons (ORNs) which map to a neuron class. The neuron projects to a specific glomerulus, and the signal eventually gets to the brain. This paper demonstrates three methods of mapping a receptor to a neuron and odor and uses them to show that Or22a receptor maps to the ab3A neuron and that Or47a receptor maps to the ab5B neuron. Dobritsa et al. also found …show more content…
Beyond that, however, these papers are not explicit in describing the importance and application of chemosensation research, especially the paper using Drosophila. In most cases, animal models are used to understand processes within humans, but
Dobritsa et al. acknowledge two important differences between human and Drosophila olfactory systems – that axonal pathfinding of ORNs to glomeruli occur at different life cycle stages and that the number of ORNs in glomeruli differ by more than an order of magnitude. Question arise about how much of the insight gained from these papers can be extended to humans as well as other sensory
These two small branches run caudally and then change their direction immediately toward the olfactory sulcus (in a recurrent way) accompanying both the olfactory tract and the olfactory bulb, most likely corresponding to the persistent primitive olfactory artery (PPOA)(fig. ). On the right side this vessel is more prominent (fig 1, fig 2). At the confluence of the olfactory tract and olfactory bulb, resembles a hairpin and then gives two branches, the anterior branch runs in the olfactory sulcus distal to the olfactory bulb and distributes on the frontal pole on the area corresponding to the fronto-polar artery normaly a branch of the anterior cerebral artery. The posterior branch runs laterally and distributes on the orbital surface of frontal lobe. Before its division the right ppoa supplies the ipsilateral straight girus with multiples
These receptors record on a extensive form of sensory modalities including changes in temperature, stress, touch, sound, mild, style, odor, physique and limb actions, and even blood pressure and chemistry. Scientists have recognized for nearly a hundred thirty years that distinct afferent nerve fibers of the peripheral nervous procedure are in contact with specialized non neural receptive buildings which realize and transmit sensory knowledge from the periphery to the Central Nervous System. The non neural receptive structure in conjunction with its afferent nerve fiber is mainly called a
Activators of Adenylate Cyclase would cause production of cAMP, which is a second messenger. This would amplify the signal and increase the extent of the scent.
Smells connection to emotion was also discussed, it turned out to be molecules with receptor signals capable of triggering memory through the olfactory part of our brain and the hippocampus, the site of memory
The neurogenic heart of the crayfish will respond to the addition of neurotransmitters and support that there are cholinergic and dopaminergic receptors present.
Furthermore, the axons of the olfactory tract project to either the amygdala, piriform cortex (region of limbic cortex) and the entorhinal cortex (region of the limbic cortex). From the amygdala, information then is sent to the hypothalamus. The entorhinal cortex sends its information to the hippocampus. The piriform cortex takes its information to the hypothalamus and orbitofrontal cortex
I decided to research Anosmia to do my chapter 3 activity over. Anosmia is a condition that affects olfaction and the olfactory system. The olfactory system is our sense of smell, and consists of the olfactory epithelium; olfactory receptor cells; olfactory bulbs; Amygdala; The olfactory cortex, the limbic system; the thalamus; and the orbitofrontal cortex. Odors travel through the nasal passages and reach the olfactory epithelium. The olfactory epithelium has around 10 million olfactory receptor cells that detect the odor that travels up the nasal cavity. The olfactory bulb receives the information from the cells and sends them to the Amygdala and the olfactory cortex. The information is then sent to the limbic system from the olfactory cortex. After the information is sent to the limbic system it is sent to the thalamus and onto the orbitofrontal cortex, where the information is processed.
The Radical Addiction The purpose of Bruce Alexander’s experiment was to challenge the beliefs that people have about addiction. He wanted to know if addiction was still a result even when a benevolent environment was present. He wanted to look at the affects social, physical and physiological restrains have on addiction. This experiment’s purpose was to show if addiction was due to the chemical or if it was culture.
Tastes and smells are the perception of chemicals in the air. The close relationship with smell and taste helps people perceive the flavors of food. Anyone with a cold has experienced that moment where they can not perceive the flavors of food because their smell has been “impaired” due to a stuffy nose. Taste itself is focused chemicals that have sweet, salty, sour, bitter, or savory taste. “The sense of taste influences food
Catnip contains nepetalactone, a terpene. Cats detect it through their olfactory epithelium and not through their vomeronasal organ. At the olfactory epithelium, the nepetalactone is hypothesized to bind to one or more G-protein coupled receptors on the surface of sensory neurons which are found in the sensory layer of the organ. Via a signal transduction
Decreased interest in olfaction may be related to early work which contrasted varying levels of olfactory abilities among animals, highlighting primates as deficient in this sense. In Turner’s 1891 paper The Convolutions of the Brain, he proposed a classification of Mammalia into three groups 1) Anasmotics, where the organs of smell are absent and included dolphins and whales, 2) Macrosmatics, defined by animals with a highly developed sense of smell and included ungulates, carnivores and most mammals, and 3) Microsmatics where the sense of smell is “feeble” as in pinnipeds, some whales, and apes and man. This idea of apes and humans, indeed, primates in general having a poor sense of smell was corroborated by Negus in 1958 and Le
In previous studies, Frank and Byram’s article suggest that taste and smell interactions are dependent on taste and odor. In their experiments, they gave subjects strawberry
In insects, the olfactory receptor neurons are located on the appendages, specifically, the antennae. In the presence of an ordant, the receptor proteins bind with the specific chemical and participate in a conformational change which
Name and describe the parts of the brain involved in the chemical sense of taste.
Somatosensation is the collective sense of touch which enables us to feel our environment through the specialized receptors in our skin. While in primates, the glabrous hairless skin of the hand palm and fingers serves as sensory organ to palpate objects and obtain tactile information, rodents use their whiskers, organized in a series of rows and columns on the whisker pad located on each side of the snout (Fig.X). Rodent whiskers acquire somatosensory information by their deflection onto objects in the environment, like the digits of the human, they obtain information regarding their shape, texture and location. Somatosensation is an active process involving sensory/motor systems, where in humans a hand will press an object of interest in order to feel its textile features, the rodent macrovibrassae (whisker) will position itself in space, scanning the environment in a series of timed protractions and retractions cycles (5-10Hz). The interruption of the whisking cycle caused by the contact of a whisker onto an object provide the necessary spatio-temporal information for the construction of a sensory percept. A whisker touch contains numerous information carried out by the amplitude of the whisker deflection, the direction, duration, accelation/decelaration on contact, frequency of the contact, force along the axial shaft and resonance frequency of the whisker.