Dense encoding of natural odorants by ensembles of sparsely activated neurons in the olfactory bulb.

ABSTRACT: Sensory information undergoes substantial transformation along sensory pathways, usually encompassing sparsening of activity. In the olfactory bulb, though natural odorants evoke dense glomerular input maps, mitral and tufted (M/T) cells tuning is considered to be sparse because of highly odor-specific firing rate change. However, experiments used to draw this conclusion were either based on recordings performed in anesthetized preparations or used monomolecular odorants presented at arbitrary concentrations. In this study, we evaluated the lifetime and population sparseness evoked by natural odorants by capturing spike temporal patterning of neuronal assemblies instead of individual M/T tonic activity. Using functional imaging and tetrode recordings in awake mice, we show that natural odo

SUBMITTER: Gschwend O 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5099913 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature