BACKGROUND Olfactory cues directly link the environment to gene expression. Two types of olfactory cues, food odors and social odors, alter genetically predisposed hormone-mediated activity in the mammalian brain. METHODS The honeybee is a model organism for understanding the epigenetic link from food odors and social odors to neural networks of the mammalian brain, which ultimately determine...

During normal and diseased aging, it is thought the capacity for tissue regeneration and repair in neuronal tissues diminishes. In the peripheral olfactory system, stem cell reservoirs permit regeneration of olfactory and vomeronasal sensory neurons, a unique capacity among neurons. Following injury, a large number of new neurons can be regenerated in a young animal. However, it is unknown whet...

Although there is abundant evidence for segregated processing in the olfactory system across vertebrate taxa, the spatial relationship between the second order projection neurons (PNs) of olfactory subsystems connecting sensory input to higher brain structures is less clear. In the sea lamprey, there is tight coupling between olfaction and locomotion via PNs extending to the posterior tuberculu...

To examine the functional subdivision of the teleost olfactory bulb, extracellular recordings were made from the posterior part of the medial region of the olfactory bulb in the crucian carp, Carassius carassius. Bulbar units classified as type I or type II were frequently and simultaneously encountered at a recording site. Type I units displayed a diphasic action potential (AP) with a relative...

The odorant partition coefficient is a physicochemical property that has been shown to dramatically influence odorant deposition patterns in the mammalian nose, leading to a chromatographic separation of odorants along the sensory epithelium. It is unknown whether a similar phenomenon occurs in fish. Here we utilize molecular dynamics simulations, based on a simplified molecular model of olfact...

The electrophysiological studies on the olfactory nervous system have been very few compared with those on the other sensory organs. It is well known that the fish can well smell out odorous substances in water. By observing the behaviour of fishes, Parker (1910, 1911) made it clear that the catfish and the killifish are able to smell odorous materials in water, and provided evidence that gusta...

introduction: radiotherapy is a common treatment modality for patients with head and neck malignancies. as the nose lies within the field of radiotherapy of the head and neck, the olfactory fibers and olfactory receptors may be affected by radiation. the aim of this study was to evaluate changes in olfactory threshold in patients with head and neck malignancies who have received radiation to th...

Previously, we reported that male Wistar rats release alarm pheromone from their perianal region, which aggravates stress-induced hyperthermia (SIH) in pheromone-recipient rats. The subsequent discovery that this pheromone could be trapped in water enabled us to expose recipients to the pheromone in their home cages. Despite its apparent influence on autonomic and behavioral functions, we still...