Adapting to the environment: characterization of olfactory sensory adaptation

GASCUE, F.; PÍREZ, N.; LOCATELLI, F. F.

Buenos Aires

Conferencia; Encuentro SAN 2022; 2022

Sociedad Argentina de Investigación en Neurociencias

Olfactory system receives an extraordinary diverse range of chemical stimulation. In order to maintain sensitivity and remain responsive it must be adjusted based on the animal’s experience. One of the main phenomena that modulate the olfactory system is adaptation, which is defined as the decrease of the sensitivity or response to an odor after a sustained exposure to it. Adaptation may occur in brief intervals of time and depends on the immediate experience of the animal. In this project, we investigated different aspects about the function and neurobiology of sensory adaptation in the olfactory system of the honey bee Apis mellifera. By means of electrophysiological experiments (electroantennograms) we measured the activity of olfactory receptor neurons at the level of the antennae and characterized temporal aspects of this phenomenon such as induction, duration and recovery time, as well as the specificity to the adapted stimulus. We determined that the phenomenon occurs at this level, is relatively specific and that relevant stimulus for the animal are resistant to adaptation. We also performed calcium imaging experiments to measure odor induced signals in the antennal lobe, the first neuropil in the insect brain. This allowed us to observe how adaptation changes the representation of odors at this level and revealed that cross-adaptation between different stimulus occurs when said stimulus share activated glomeruli in their response pattern.