Scientists teach mice to smell an odour that doesn't exist
Scientists have taught mice to smell an odour that doesn't exist in a study to show how the brain identifies different scents. Once triggered, these receptor cells send electric signals to nerve-ending bundles in the olfactory bulb called ‘glomeruli’ and then on to brain cells, known as neurons. The nerve fibres of smell receptor cells extend directly into the highly organised olfactory bulb, where information about odours is processed. Stimulation patterns were projected onto the olfactory bulb of a head-fixed mouse in front of a pressure sensor for sniff monitoring, and lick spouts delivering water They trained the mice to recognise a signal generated by light activation of six glomeruli – known to resemble a pattern evoked by an odour. The nerve fibres of smell receptor cells extend directly into the highly organised olfactory bulb, where information about odours is processed The timing of glomeruli activations worked together ‘like the notes of a melody’ they said, and delays or interruptions in the early notes degraded accuracy of identifying an odour signal.
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