A general odorant background affects the coding of pheromone stimulus intermittency in specialist olfactory receptor neurones.
In nature the aerial trace of pheromone used by male moths to find a female appears as a train of discontinuous pulses separated by gaps among a complex odorant background constituted of plant volatiles. We investigated the effect of such background odor on behavior and coding of temporal parameters...
| Main Authors: | , , , , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Public Library of Science (PLoS)
2011-01-01
|
| Series: | PLoS ONE |
| Online Access: | http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC3196569?pdf=render |
| _version_ | 1811236723102842880 |
|---|---|
| author | Angela Rouyar Virginie Party Janez Prešern Andrej Blejec Michel Renou |
| author_facet | Angela Rouyar Virginie Party Janez Prešern Andrej Blejec Michel Renou |
| author_sort | Angela Rouyar |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | In nature the aerial trace of pheromone used by male moths to find a female appears as a train of discontinuous pulses separated by gaps among a complex odorant background constituted of plant volatiles. We investigated the effect of such background odor on behavior and coding of temporal parameters of pheromone pulse trains in the pheromone olfactory receptor neurons of Spodoptera littoralis. Effects of linalool background were tested by measuring walking behavior towards a source of pheromone. While velocity and orientation index did drop when linalool was turned on, both parameters recovered back to pre-background values after 40 s with linalool still present. Photo-ionization detector was used to characterize pulse delivery by our stimulator. The photo-ionization detector signal reached 71% of maximum amplitude at 50 ms pulses and followed the stimulus period at repetition rates up to 10 pulses/s. However, at high pulse rates the concentration of the odorant did not return to base level during inter-pulse intervals. Linalool decreased the intensity and shortened the response of receptor neurons to pulses. High contrast (>10 dB) in firing rate between pulses and inter-pulse intervals was observed for 1 and 4 pulses/s, both with and without background. Significantly more neurons followed the 4 pulses/s pattern when delivered over linalool; at the same time the information content was preserved almost to the control values. Rapid recovery of behavior shows that change of perceived intensity is more important than absolute stimulus intensity. While decreasing the response intensity, background odor preserved the temporal parameters of the specific signal. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-12T12:12:56Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-ea3bd5dd0f814656930da2b8158f36d9 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1932-6203 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-12T12:12:56Z |
| publishDate | 2011-01-01 |
| publisher | Public Library of Science (PLoS) |
| record_format | Article |
| series | PLoS ONE |
| spelling | doaj.art-ea3bd5dd0f814656930da2b8158f36d92022-12-22T03:33:31ZengPublic Library of Science (PLoS)PLoS ONE1932-62032011-01-01610e2644310.1371/journal.pone.0026443A general odorant background affects the coding of pheromone stimulus intermittency in specialist olfactory receptor neurones.Angela RouyarVirginie PartyJanez PrešernAndrej BlejecMichel RenouIn nature the aerial trace of pheromone used by male moths to find a female appears as a train of discontinuous pulses separated by gaps among a complex odorant background constituted of plant volatiles. We investigated the effect of such background odor on behavior and coding of temporal parameters of pheromone pulse trains in the pheromone olfactory receptor neurons of Spodoptera littoralis. Effects of linalool background were tested by measuring walking behavior towards a source of pheromone. While velocity and orientation index did drop when linalool was turned on, both parameters recovered back to pre-background values after 40 s with linalool still present. Photo-ionization detector was used to characterize pulse delivery by our stimulator. The photo-ionization detector signal reached 71% of maximum amplitude at 50 ms pulses and followed the stimulus period at repetition rates up to 10 pulses/s. However, at high pulse rates the concentration of the odorant did not return to base level during inter-pulse intervals. Linalool decreased the intensity and shortened the response of receptor neurons to pulses. High contrast (>10 dB) in firing rate between pulses and inter-pulse intervals was observed for 1 and 4 pulses/s, both with and without background. Significantly more neurons followed the 4 pulses/s pattern when delivered over linalool; at the same time the information content was preserved almost to the control values. Rapid recovery of behavior shows that change of perceived intensity is more important than absolute stimulus intensity. While decreasing the response intensity, background odor preserved the temporal parameters of the specific signal.http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC3196569?pdf=render |
| spellingShingle | Angela Rouyar Virginie Party Janez Prešern Andrej Blejec Michel Renou A general odorant background affects the coding of pheromone stimulus intermittency in specialist olfactory receptor neurones. PLoS ONE |
| title | A general odorant background affects the coding of pheromone stimulus intermittency in specialist olfactory receptor neurones. |
| title_full | A general odorant background affects the coding of pheromone stimulus intermittency in specialist olfactory receptor neurones. |
| title_fullStr | A general odorant background affects the coding of pheromone stimulus intermittency in specialist olfactory receptor neurones. |
| title_full_unstemmed | A general odorant background affects the coding of pheromone stimulus intermittency in specialist olfactory receptor neurones. |
| title_short | A general odorant background affects the coding of pheromone stimulus intermittency in specialist olfactory receptor neurones. |
| title_sort | general odorant background affects the coding of pheromone stimulus intermittency in specialist olfactory receptor neurones |
| url | http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC3196569?pdf=render |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT angelarouyar ageneralodorantbackgroundaffectsthecodingofpheromonestimulusintermittencyinspecialistolfactoryreceptorneurones AT virginieparty ageneralodorantbackgroundaffectsthecodingofpheromonestimulusintermittencyinspecialistolfactoryreceptorneurones AT janezpresern ageneralodorantbackgroundaffectsthecodingofpheromonestimulusintermittencyinspecialistolfactoryreceptorneurones AT andrejblejec ageneralodorantbackgroundaffectsthecodingofpheromonestimulusintermittencyinspecialistolfactoryreceptorneurones AT michelrenou ageneralodorantbackgroundaffectsthecodingofpheromonestimulusintermittencyinspecialistolfactoryreceptorneurones AT angelarouyar generalodorantbackgroundaffectsthecodingofpheromonestimulusintermittencyinspecialistolfactoryreceptorneurones AT virginieparty generalodorantbackgroundaffectsthecodingofpheromonestimulusintermittencyinspecialistolfactoryreceptorneurones AT janezpresern generalodorantbackgroundaffectsthecodingofpheromonestimulusintermittencyinspecialistolfactoryreceptorneurones AT andrejblejec generalodorantbackgroundaffectsthecodingofpheromonestimulusintermittencyinspecialistolfactoryreceptorneurones AT michelrenou generalodorantbackgroundaffectsthecodingofpheromonestimulusintermittencyinspecialistolfactoryreceptorneurones |