Authors: Salcedo, Ernesto¹; Zhang, Chunbo²; Kronberg, Eugene¹; Restrepo, Diego¹

Source: Chemical Senses, Volume 30, Number 7, September 2005 , pp. 615-626(12)

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Abstract:

Odor quality is thought to be encoded by the activation of partially overlapping subsets of glomeruli in the olfactory bulb (odor maps). Mouse genetic studies have demonstrated that olfactory sensory neurons (OSNs) expressing a particular olfactory receptor target their axons to a few individual glomeruli in the bulb. While the specific targeting of OSN axons provides a molecular underpinning for the odor maps, much remains to be understood about the relationship between the functional and molecular maps. In this article, we ask the question whether intensive training of mice in a go/no-go operant conditioning odor discrimination task affects odor maps measured by determining c-fos up-regulation in periglomerular cells. Data analysis is performed using a newly developed suite of computational tools designed to systematically map functional and molecular features of glomeruli in the adult mouse olfactory bulb. This suite provides the necessary tools to process high-resolution digital images, map labeled glomeruli, visualize odor maps, and facilitate statistical analysis of patterns of identified glomeruli in the olfactory bulb. The software generates odor maps (density plots) based on glomerular activity, density, or area. We find that training up-regulates the number of glomeruli that become c-fos positive after stimulation with ethyl acetate.

Keywords: c-fos; glomerulus; go/no-go operant conditioning; neuroinformatics; odor map; olfactory bulb

Document Type: Research article

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/chemse/bji055

Affiliations: 1: Department of Cell and Developmental Biology, University of Colorado School of Medicine, Mail Stop 8108 PO Box 6511, Aurora, CO 80045, USA, 2: Biology Division, BCPS, Illinois Institute of Technology, Chicago, IL 60616, USA and

Publication date: 2005-09-01

More about this publication?

• Chemical Senses publishes original research and review papers on all aspects of chemoreception in both humans and animals. An important part of the journal's coverage is devoted to techniques and the development and application of new methods for investigating chemoreception and chemosensory structures.

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