Mosaic activity patterns and their relation to perceptual similarity: Open discussions regarding the molecular basis and circuitry of odor recognition

FERNANDO LOCATELLI; LORENA RELA

JOURNAL OF NEUROCHEMISTRY

WILEY-BLACKWELL PUBLISHING, INC

Lugar: Londres; Año: 2014

0022-3042

Enormous advances have been made in the recent years in regard to the mechanisms and neural circuits by which odors are sensed and perceived. Part of this understanding was gained from parallel studies in insects and rodents that show striking similarity in the mechanisms they use to sense, encode and perceive odors. In the present review we provide a short introduction to the functioning of olfactory systems from transduction of odorant stimuli into electrical signals in sensory neurons to the anatomical and functional organization of the networks involved in neural representation of odors in the central nervous system. We make emphasis on the functional and anatomical architecture of the first synaptic relay of the olfactory circuit, the olfactory bulb in vertebrates and the antennal lobe in insects. We discuss how the exquisite and conserved architecture of this structure is established and how different odors are encoded in mosaic activity patterns. Finally, we discuss the validity of methods used to compare activation patterns in relation to perceptual similarity