Interactions between odorants in the activity of olfactory sensory neurons, periglomerular interneurons, and between odorants and neurotoxicants in the mouse olfactory bulb
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Matia, Allison. Interactions between odorants in the activity of olfactory sensory neurons, periglomerular interneurons, and between odorants and neurotoxicants in the mouse olfactory bulb. Retrieved from https://doi.org/doi:10.7282/t3-4584-ne86
TitleInteractions between odorants in the activity of olfactory sensory neurons, periglomerular interneurons, and between odorants and neurotoxicants in the mouse olfactory bulb
DescriptionSensory stimuli are never encountered in isolation. Our senses are barraged by many stimuli at once, and these stimuli can interact. The olfactory system may be particularly subject to these stimulus-stimulus interactions; however, these interactions are poorly understood. Simultaneously presented odorants can produce perceptions that differ radically from the odorants individually. These interactions are typically presumed to occur at the periphery, where odorants compete for olfactory receptor binding sites. However, these interactions could potentially also occur within the circuitry of the olfactory bulb. The established odor receptor specific mixture interaction between isoamyl acetate and whiskey lactone was investigated in olfactory sensory neurons. We found that WL does not exhibit the expected selective interaction with IAA in vivo, but it did induce a mild suppression of peripheral response to various odorants. Circuit-level mixture interactions between lemon-like odors were also explored. Sublinear summation and co-inhibition of these odors was observed in GABAergic periglomerular interneurons.
In addition to odorants, the peripheral olfactory system is exposed to aerosolized materials in the environment, including toxicants. Prior studies have demonstrated that exposure to aerosolized toxicants, such as those found in e-cigarette aerosol, can induce lasting olfactory loss and toxicant transportation to the brain via the olfactory nerve. In vivo optical neurophysiology showed a decrease in odorant-evoked OSN output proportional to the amount of vape exposure. This reduction decreased the absolute inter-odor representational difference but not the relative inter-odor representational difference, suggesting an impairment in odor discrimination but not odor identification. Experimental variation of nicotine concentration and exposure duration revealed pathophysiological effects of both nicotine dose and total exposure to non-nicotine- containing vape aerosols. Mass spectroscopic analysis of unmanipulated vape fluid revealed high concentrations of neurotoxic heavy metals. When the fluid was heated via the vape device’s metal heating element, concentrations of some heavy metals increased. These results demonstrate that vaping disrupts human olfactory function through multiple mechanisms of toxicity.