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...

BACKGROUND Burkholderia pseudomallei, the causative agent of melioidosis, is generally considered to be acquired via inhalation of dust or water droplets from the environment. In this study, we show that infection of the nasal mucosa is potentially an important portal of entry in melioidosis. METHODS After intranasal inoculation of mice, infection was monitored by bioluminescence imaging and ...

The sensory neurons in the olfactory epithelium (OSNs) are equipped with a large repertoire of olfactory receptors and the associated signal transduction machinery. In addition to the canonical OSNs, which express odorant receptors (ORs), the epithelium contains specialized subpopulations of sensory neurons that can detect specific information from environmental cues and relay it to relevant ne...

The interaction of cytochromes P-450 of the liver and olfactory epithelium of male hamsters with cumene hydroperoxide (CHP) has been characterized with regard to the ability of CHP to (1) support 7-ethoxycoumarin-O-de-ethylase (ECOD) activity, (2) support the oxidation of NNN'N'-tetramethyl-p-phenylenediamme (peroxidase activity) and (3) cause inactivation of cytochrome P-450. In the liver, CHP...

The separation between the cell bodies of olfactory receptor neurons in the nasal cavity and their axon terminals in the olfactory bulb make them attractive for studying axonal transport. Although high molecular weight RNAs are generally believed to be excluded from axons of mature neurons, we demonstrate here that mRNA for olfactory marker protein (OMP), an abundant cytoplasmic protein selecti...

The peptide hormone adiponectin is secreted by adipose tissue and the circulating concentration is reversely correlated with body fat mass; it is considered as starvation signal. The observation that mature sensory neurons of the main olfactory epithelium express the adiponectin receptor 1 has led to the concept that adiponectin may affect the responsiveness of the olfactory system. In fact, el...

The cephalopod olfactory organ was described for the first time in 1844 by von Kölliker, who was attracted to the pair of small pits of ciliated cells on each side of the head, below the eyes close to the mantle edge, in both octopuses and squids. Several functional studies have been conducted on decapods but very little is known about octopods. The morphology of the octopus olfactory system ha...

Olfactory epithelium from the frog was examined in the living state by light microscopy and in the fixed state by electron microscopy. Particular attention was paid to the layer of cilia and mucus which covers the surface of the epithelium. The olfactory cilia differed from typical cilia in that they (a) arose from bipolar neurons and had centrioles near their basal bodies, (b) were up to 200 m...

In mammals, odors are detected by approximately 1000 different types of odorant receptors (ORs), each expressed by a fraction of neurons in the olfactory epithelium. Neurons expressing a given OR are confined to one of four spatial zones but are distributed randomly throughout that zone. In the olfactory bulb, the axons of neurons expressing different ORs synapse at different sites, giving rise...