Fragile X-associated tremor/ataxia syndrome (FXTAS) is a severe neurodegenerative disorder that affects carriers of premutation CGG-repeat expansion alleles of the fragile X (FMR1) gene; current evidence supports a causal role of the expanded CGG-repeat within the FMR1 mRNA in the pathogenesis of FXTAS. Though the mRNA has been observed to induce cellular toxicity in FXTAS, the mechanisms are u...

Calcium plays an essential role in olfactory sensory neuron function. Studies with fish have indicated that in addition to being involved in olfactory signalling, calcium is itself an odourant. In this study we used fathead minnows (Pimephales promelas) and employed two different techniques; electro-olfactography (EOG), a neurophysiological technique that measures olfactory acuity at the olfact...

The response of olfactory sensory neurons to TNT and RDX as well as to some volatile organic compounds present in the vapors of antipersonnel landmines has been studied both in the pig and in the rat. GC/MS analyses of different plastic components of six different kinds of landmines were performed in order to identify the components of the "perfume" of mines. Studies on rat olfactory mucosa wer...

A wide network of interconnected areas was previously found in neuroimaging studies involving normal as well as pathological subjects; however literature seems to suffer from a lack of investigation in glucose metabolism behaviour under olfactory condition. Thus, the present work describe for the first time a pure olfactory related brain response of metabolism by using (18)F-fluorodeoxyglucose-...

The fish olfactory system processes odor signals and mediates behaviors that are crucial for survival such as foraging, courtship, and alarm response. Although the upstream olfactory brain areas (olfactory epithelium and olfactory bulb) are well-studied, less is known about their target brain areas and the role they play in generating odor-driven behaviors. Here we review a broad range of liter...

Olfactory coding at the level of the olfactory bulb is thought to depend upon an ensemble response of mitral cells receiving input from chemotopically-organized projections of olfactory sensory neurons and regulated by lateral inhibitory circuits. Immunocytochemical methods are described to metabolically classify neurons in the developing zebrafish olfactory system based on the relative concent...

Most animals orient themselves in their environment through the perception of olfactory cues. In order to gain insight into the principles of olfactory processing in Drosophila, we misexpressed olfactory receptor Or43a in additional olfactory receptor neurons of the third antennal segment using enhancer trap line GH320. The behavioral response of GH320/UAS-or43a flies was changed upon benzaldeh...

Olfactory inputs help coordinate food appreciation and selection, but their role in systemic physiology and energy balance is poorly understood. Here we demonstrate that mice upon conditional ablation of mature olfactory sensory neurons (OSNs) are resistant to diet-induced obesity accompanied by increased thermogenesis in brown and inguinal fat depots. Acute loss of smell perception after obesi...

More chemicals can be smelled than there are olfactory receptors for them, necessitating a combinatorial representation by somewhat broadly tuned receptors. To understand the perception of odor quality and concentration, it is essential to establish the nature of the receptor repertoires that are activated by particular odorants at particular concentrations. We have taken advantage of the one-t...