Odor concentration invariance by chemical ratio coding
Many animal species rely on chemical signals to extract ecologically important information from the environment. Yet in natural conditions chemical signals will frequently undergo concentration changes that produce differences in both level and pattern of activation of olfactory receptor neurons. Th...
| Main Authors: | , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Frontiers Media S.A.
2008-08-01
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| Series: | Frontiers in Systems Neuroscience |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://journal.frontiersin.org/Journal/10.3389/neuro.06.003.2007/full |
| _version_ | 1818933651687079936 |
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| author | Naoshige Uchida Zachary F Mainen |
| author_facet | Naoshige Uchida Zachary F Mainen |
| author_sort | Naoshige Uchida |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Many animal species rely on chemical signals to extract ecologically important information from the environment. Yet in natural conditions chemical signals will frequently undergo concentration changes that produce differences in both level and pattern of activation of olfactory receptor neurons. Thus, a central problem in olfactory processing is how the system is able to recognize the same stimulus across different concentrations. To signal species identity for mate recognition, some insects use the ratio of two components in a binary chemical mixture to produce a code that is invariant to dilution. Here, using psychophysical methods, we show that rats also classify binary odor mixtures according to the molar ratios of their components, spontaneously generalizing over at least a tenfold concentration range. These results indicate that extracting chemical ratio information is not restricted to pheromone signaling and suggest a general solution for concentration-invariant odor recognition by the mammalian olfactory system. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-20T04:51:46Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-3fe423b942a24c739f9a79e610e98999 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1662-5137 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-20T04:51:46Z |
| publishDate | 2008-08-01 |
| publisher | Frontiers Media S.A. |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Frontiers in Systems Neuroscience |
| spelling | doaj.art-3fe423b942a24c739f9a79e610e989992022-12-21T19:52:50ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Systems Neuroscience1662-51372008-08-01210.3389/neuro.06.003.2007116Odor concentration invariance by chemical ratio codingNaoshige Uchida0Zachary F Mainen1Cold Spring Harbor LaboratoryCold Spring Harbor LaboratoryMany animal species rely on chemical signals to extract ecologically important information from the environment. Yet in natural conditions chemical signals will frequently undergo concentration changes that produce differences in both level and pattern of activation of olfactory receptor neurons. Thus, a central problem in olfactory processing is how the system is able to recognize the same stimulus across different concentrations. To signal species identity for mate recognition, some insects use the ratio of two components in a binary chemical mixture to produce a code that is invariant to dilution. Here, using psychophysical methods, we show that rats also classify binary odor mixtures according to the molar ratios of their components, spontaneously generalizing over at least a tenfold concentration range. These results indicate that extracting chemical ratio information is not restricted to pheromone signaling and suggest a general solution for concentration-invariant odor recognition by the mammalian olfactory system.http://journal.frontiersin.org/Journal/10.3389/neuro.06.003.2007/fullconcentration-invarianceodor recognitionOlfactionratio |
| spellingShingle | Naoshige Uchida Zachary F Mainen Odor concentration invariance by chemical ratio coding Frontiers in Systems Neuroscience concentration-invariance odor recognition Olfaction ratio |
| title | Odor concentration invariance by chemical ratio coding |
| title_full | Odor concentration invariance by chemical ratio coding |
| title_fullStr | Odor concentration invariance by chemical ratio coding |
| title_full_unstemmed | Odor concentration invariance by chemical ratio coding |
| title_short | Odor concentration invariance by chemical ratio coding |
| title_sort | odor concentration invariance by chemical ratio coding |
| topic | concentration-invariance odor recognition Olfaction ratio |
| url | http://journal.frontiersin.org/Journal/10.3389/neuro.06.003.2007/full |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT naoshigeuchida odorconcentrationinvariancebychemicalratiocoding AT zacharyfmainen odorconcentrationinvariancebychemicalratiocoding |