Seminar,
April 19th, 2002 Presents:
Dr Kensaku Mori,
University of Tokyo
Recipient of Frank Allison Linville's
R. H. Wright Award in Olfactory Research
10 A.M. - 11
A.M.
University of British Columbia
BCRI Theatre (CMMT Location)
Odor Maps in
the Mammalian Olfactory Bulb: Discrimination and
Perception of Molecular Features of
Odorants
The olfactory
system is unique in that the sensory input is in
the form of molecular information carried in
odorants. The mammalian olfactory system has
neuronal networks that can process the molecular
information for discrimination of a huge variety of
odorants. More than 400,000 different compounds are
odorous to human nose. To cope with the numerous
odorants, mammals have developed up to 1000 types
of odorant receptors. In the initial half of my
talk, I would like to summarize the knowledge of
functional logic employed by the olfactory system
for the discrimination of numerous odorants.
Odorant receptors mediate the initial detection and
discrimination of odorants at the molecular feature
level. The discrimination at the molecular level is
converted to that at the cellular level (olfactory
sensory neurons) by one sensory neuron-one odorant
receptor rule, and then converted to that at the
neuronal circuit level in the olfactory bulb by the
olfactory axon connectivity pattern. In the latter
half, I will focus on the olfactory sensory maps in
the glomerular layer of the rodent olfactory bulb,
the first center for the processing of odorant
molecular information. We analyzed the spatial
organization of the sensory maps using several
different methods including the optical imaging of
intrinsic signals. The results suggest that odorant
receptors having a common molecular feature
receptive site are grouped together and represented
by glomeruli that are localized in topographically
fixed domains in the olfactory bulb. I will discuss
the possibility that the domains in the sensory
maps might relate to specific quality of
subjectively perceived 'odor.'
Yoshihara Y,
Nagao H, Mori K. Sniffing out odors with multiple
dendrites.
Science. 2001 Feb 2;291(5505):835-7.
Mori K, von
Campenhause H, Yoshihara Y.
Zonal organization of the mammalian main and
accessory olfactory systems.
Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci. 2000 Dec
29;355(1404):1801-12.
Tatsura H, Nagao
H, Tamada A, Sasaki S, Kohri K, Mori K.
Developing germ cells in mouse testis express
pheromone receptors.
FEBS Lett. 2001 Jan 19;488(3):139-44.
Uchida N,
Takahashi YK, Tanifuji M, Mori K.Odor maps in the
mammalian olfactory bulb: domain organization and
odorant structural features. Nat Neurosci. 2000
Oct;3(10):1035-43.
Nagao H,
Yoshihara Y, Mitsui S, Fujisawa H, Mori K.
Two mirror-image sensory maps with domain
organization in the mouse main olfactory bulb.
Neuroreport. 2000 Sep 11;11(13):3023-7.
Yamaguchi M,
Saito H, Suzuki M, Mori K. Visualization of
neurogenesis in the central nervous system using
nestin promoter-GFP transgenic mice.
Neuroreport. 2000 Jun 26;11(9):1991-6.
von Campenhausen
H, Mori K.
Convergence of segregated pheromonal pathways from
the accessory olfactory bulb to the cortex in the
mouse. Eur J Neurosci. 2000 Jan;12(1):33-46.
Mori K, Nagao H,
Yoshihara Y.
The olfactory bulb: coding and processing of odor
molecule information.
Science. 1999 Oct 22;286(5440):711-5.
Review.
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