Neural precursor cells (NPCs) in the mammalian olfactory bulb give rise to local inhibitory neurons that integrate into existing circuitry throughout adult life. However, the functional properties of neurotransmitter receptors expressed by NPCs are not well understood. In this study, we use patch-clamp recording and calcium imaging to explore the properties of glutamate receptors expressed by N...

A salesman in a red suit who looks suspiciously like Tom Waits presents you with a black steel box with n binary switches on the front and a light bulb on the top. The salesman tells you that the state of the light bulb is controlled by a complex boolean circuit—a collection of AND, OR, and NOT gates connected by wires, with one input wire for each switch and a single output wire for the light ...

In the current study, we addressed two questions: First, is the olfactory placode necessary for the development of the olfactory bulb and the entire telencephalon? Second, does the olfactory placode contribute cells to the olfactory bulb? We addressed these questions by unilaterally ablating the olfactory placode in chick embryos before an olfactory nerve was produced and, in a second series of...

Circadian pacemakers drive many daily molecular, physiological and behavioural rhythms. We investigated whether the main olfactory bulb is a functional circadian pacemaker in rats. Long-term, multielectrode recordings revealed that individual, cultured bulb neurons expressed near 24-h oscillations in firing rate. Real-time recordings of Period1 gene activity showed that a population of cells wi...

We present a model of an olfactory system that performs odour segmentation. Based on the anatomy and physiology of natural olfactory systems, it consists of a pair of coupled modules, bulb and cortex. The bulb encodes the odour inputs as oscillating patterns. The cortex functions as an associative memory: when the input from the bulb matches a pattern stored in the connections between its units...

Neuronal synchronization in the olfactory bulb has been proposed to arise from a diffuse action of glutamate released from mitral cells (MC, olfactory bulb relay neurons). According to this hypothesis, glutamate spills over from dendrodendritic synapses formed between MC and granule cells (GC, olfactory bulb interneurons) to activate neighboring MC. The excitation of MC is balanced by a strong ...

Olfactory neurons project their axons to spatially invariant glomeruli in the olfactory bulb, forming an ordered pattern of innervation comprising the olfactory sensory map. A mirror symmetry exists within this map, such that neurons expressing a given receptor typically project to one glomerulus on the medial face and one glomerulus on the lateral face of the bulb. The mechanisms underlying an...

The distribution pattern and the morphology of calbindin D-28k-immunoreactive neurons were studied in the accessory olfactory bulb of the rat using a monoclonal antibody and the avidin-biotin-immunoperoxidase method. Positive neurons were observed in all layers but the vomeronasal nerve layer. Scarce mono-dendritic periglomerular neurons were calbindin D-28k-immunoreactive. Different morphologi...

In the main olfactory bulb, stimuli are coded within the spatio-temporal pattern of mitral cells' activity. Granule cells are interneurons that shape the mitral cells' activity, and are continuously generated in the adult main olfactory bulb. However, the role of granule cell renewal remains elusive. We show here that an associative olfactory discrimination task reduces the survival of newborn ...

The purpose of the study was to collect data and evaluate an age-based bulb replacement policy for projectors used in Technology-enhanced classrooms in a university campus. The Office of Information Technology (OIT) had instituted a policy to replace bulbs in these projectors after either failure or 1800 h of operation without failure. However, databases maintained by OIT included the time to b...