Broad activation of the olfactory bulb produces long-lasting changes in odor perception.

ABSTRACT: A number of electrophysiological experiments have shown that odor exposure alone, unaccompanied by behavioral training, changes the response patterns of neurons in the olfactory bulb. As a consequence of these changes, across mitral cells in the olfactory bulb, individual odors should be better discriminated because of previous exposure. We have previously shown that a daily 2-h exposure to odorants during 2 weeks enhances rats' ability to discriminate between chemically similar odorants. Here, we first show that the perception of test odorants is only modulated by enrichment with odorants that activate at least partially overlapping regions of the olfactory bulb. Second, we show that a broad activation of olfactory bulb neurons by daily local infusion of NMDA into both olfactory bulbs enh

SUBMITTER: Mandairon N 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC1569199 | biostudies-literature | 2006 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature