Uptake, retention and release of 5 selected odorants (benzaldehyde, 2-methylpyrazine, 2-isobutyl-3-methoxypyrazine, 2-isobutylthiazole, and 2,4,5-trimethylthiazole) by recombinant rat odor-binding protein 3 (rat-OBP3) were measured in a model system under nonequilibrium conditions. Gaseous odorants were introduced into a 100 mm section of a polar deactivated capillary in which aqueous rat-OBP3 ...

Increasing the concentration of an odorant increases the number of receptor cells and glomeruli in the olfactory bulb that are stimulated, and it is commonly acknowledged that these represent increased numbers of receptor types. Currently, it is not known whether a receptor type is associated with a unique quality and a unique molecular feature of an odorant, or its activation is used by the br...

The common bed bug Cimex lectularius is a temporary ectoparasite on humans and currently resurgent in many developed countries. The ability of bed bugs to detect human odorants in the environment is critical for their host-seeking behavior. This study deciphered the chemical basis of host detection by investigating the neuronal response of olfactory sensilla to 104 human odorants using single s...

Following prolonged exposure to an odorant, C. elegans exhibits a diminished response to the odorant for several hours. This olfactory adaptation is odorant selective; animals can adapt independently to different odorants sensed by a single pair of olfactory neurons, the AWC neurons. The mechanism of olfactory adaptation is genetically complex, with different genes required for adaptation to di...

It has long been believed that vertebrate olfactory signal transduction is mediated by independent multiple pathways (using cAMP and InsP3 as second messengers). However, the dual presence of parallel pathways in the olfactory receptor cell is still controversial, mainly because of the lack of information regarding the single-cell response induced by odorants that have been shown to produce Ins...

Humans are able to detect and discriminate myriads of odorants using only several hundred olfactory receptors (ORs) classified in two major phylogenetic classes representing ORs from aquatic (class I) and terrestrial animals (class II). Olfactory perception results in a combinatorial code, in which one OR recognizes multiple odorants and different odorants are recognized by different combinatio...

in the present work a modified in-tube solid phase microextraction technique followed by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (gc-ms) has been applied for determination of water odorants. geosmin, 2-methyl isoborneol, 2-isopropyl-3-methoxy pyrazine, 2-isobutyl-3-methoxy pyrazine and 2,4,6-trichloroanisol are of the most important odorants which have been studied. in the described method, analyt...

The state of the art in aroma analysis is reviewed with emphasis on aroma-recombination studies using synthetic blends of odorants (aroma models) which have been prepared on the basis of analytical data. The model that matches the original aroma is the starting material for omission experiments which are performed to establish the odorants that actually contribute to the aroma. These experiment...

(a) The responses of the vomeronasal organ to general odorants in the turtle, Geoclemys reevesii, were measured by recording the accessory olfactory bulbar responses. The threshold concentrations of the vomeronasal responses to various odorants were similar to those in main olfactory bulbar responses, indicating that vomeronasal cells lacking cilia and olfactory cells having many cilia have sim...

In many insects, mate finding relies on female-released sex pheromones, which have to be deciphered by the male olfactory system within an odorous background of plant volatiles present in the environment of a calling female. With respect to pheromone-mediated mate localization, plant odorants may be neutral, favorable, or disturbing. Here we examined the impact of plant odorants on detection an...